From the stickers, we can tell that this isn’t just any Range Rover. It’s the impending Range Rover Sport plug-in hybrid. Set to go on sale this summer, the Range Rover Sport PHEV joins its bigger brother in Land Rover’s electrified lineup. While news of the Range Rover Sport PHEV isn’t new – Jaguar Land Rover broke the news that it’s coming last year – it does make sense to see it out testing before its launch. Sporting Minnesota plates, this particular prototype was spotted testing in Colorado.
What we know so far
Badged P400e, the Range Rover Sport PHEV will go on sale in summer 2018. It’s the first step toward a major psychic shift for Jaguar Land Rover. When the Range Rover Sport PHEV was revealed back in October 2017, it followed news that all JLR products from 2020 would be electrified.
While today’s top-of-the-line Range Rover Sport SVR packs a massive 5.0-liter V8, Land Rover’s first plug-in hybrid will sport a more humble powertrain. It will combine a 2.0-liter “Ingenium” four-cylinder engine making 296 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. It’s an engine used in a range of Jaguar models, including the new E-Pace.
That engine works with an 85-kW electric motor to provide a combined output of 398 horsepower (hence the “400e” nomenclature) and 472 lb-ft of torque. All that power is routed through a permanent four-wheel drive system, and shoves this nearly 5,500-pound SUV to 60 in 6.3 seconds. It will also run up to a maximum speed of 137 miles per hour.
Jaguar Land Rover also states the Range Rover Sport PHEV offers an all-electric range of up to 31 miles. To that end, the driver can help that along by selecting from two driving modes that match their needs.
Range Rover Sport PHEV Drive Modes
The first available drive mode is Parallel Hybrid mode. That combines the gas engine and electric motor all the time. However, drivers can opt to charge the battery or maximize fuel economy by choosing from two options. There’s SAVE mode, which prioritizes battery charge and prevents it from dropping below a certain level. Then there’s Predictive Energy Optimization (PEO), which utilizes GPS to combine the two drive motors to maximize fuel economy.
If you don’t want to use the gas engine at all, you can select pure EV mode. That utilizes the 13.1-kWh lithium-ion battery to provide over 30 miles of electric range (if you’re careful). Land Rover housed the 85kW electric motor inside the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission.
Charging
Jaguar Land Rover claims you can charge the Range Rover Sport PHEV in 2 hours, 45 minutes using a 32-amp wall box. If you use the standard 10-amp home charging cable, it’ll take 7.5 hours to charge the car to full.
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