The electric Jeep Wrangler is almost here.
Jeep is just kicking off production of the 2021 Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid, but they’re not done with the new ideas yet. As part of “The Road Ahead”, shown during Super Bowl LV Sunday, Jeep launched a new website showing where the brand’s going from here. Naturally, there’s one final frontier we’ve all been expecting, and that is with the fully electric Jeep Wrangler. Indeed, Jeep confirmed through this site that a Wrangler EV is heading to Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah this year.
Just a brief glimpse is available right now, but like the 4xe it seems Jeep isn’t too keen to drastically change the formula:
Instead, the current renderings lay out the Wrangler BEV Concept like other standard Wranglers. Granted, you do have an electric motor where the gasoline engine normally goes — that’s pretty standard for EVs sharing a platform with gas or hybrid vehicles. To that end, though, engineers aren’t completely reinventing the Wrangler’s platform for an electric variant. Instead, there are battery pack modules tied together, including one where the fuel tank would normally go. There still appears to be your ordinary transmission and transfer case feeding power to the axles.
Depending on how a production model shakes out, the layout may just use one larger EV motor to dole out power where it’s needed. With other electric designs, there’s an electric motor at each wheel, or at least on each axle. At any rate, it seems the key here was to retain that classic character and keep the Wrangler’s identity. Even if some Jeep enthusiasts are averse to electrification, an electric Wrangler that more or less retains the proportions of the standard car is an effort that may win a few over.
More electrifying news
Beyond the electric Jeep Wrangler BEV concept, the company also previewed solar-powered charging stations in Moab in Utah and near the Rubicon Trail in California. Unsurprisingly, a plug-in hybrid Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe is also on its way, with more details emerging in the next few months.
