• The Land Rover Defender could receive an electric powertrain as of 2025.
• This is according to a report by Auto Express.
• Land Rover has promised a first all-electric model by 2024, but that’s likely to be a Range Rover.
• The company has also promised five more EVs in the years to follow.
The Land Rover Defender SUV could go all-electric by 2025, according to a new report by Auto Express. The outlet doesn’t cite any specific sources, but it does point out that 2025 is when the current Defender will hit its generational midpoint. It also claims that Land Rover will electrify all three variants of the Defender, thus the 90, 110 and 130 models.
Making the switch will entail building the new editions on Land Rover’s MLA Flex platform, which can support all-electric powertrains. That platform is already in use on the new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models, which the company plans to produce all-electric versions of by 2024. Could it follow that up just a year later with the Defender? We wouldn’t rule it out.
Land Rover has also already made clear it plans to produce an all-electric version of the Discovery, though there’s no timeline on that project as yet.
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It’s not expected the electric Defenders would get any radical visual makeover, though there will undoubtedly be at least some cues to identify the EVs as such, not least on the front grille. More likely are updates and upgrades to the infotainment system inside, and more use of sustainable materials, for example.
Of course, Land Rovers are first and foremost vehicles that can be taken off-road, and the automaker’s designers and engineers believe the switch to an electric powertrain will be a net plus for the Defender. Performance gains are possible via advanced torque vectoring and more involved, software-managed power delivery.
We have no details as to specifications of a future Defender BEV, but speculation up to now has the all-electric Range Rover coming in 2024 getting a 100-kWh battery, and engineers aiming to deliver a range in excess of 300 miles or 480 km.
Jaguar-Land Rover has in place a Reimagine program that calls for the full electrification of the Land Rover lineup by the end of this decade (that includes hybrid and PHEV powertrains, to be clear). To that end, the automaker’s factories around the world are being prepared for the next generation of battery-electric models. It’s not surprising then to hear that it is working on plans for the Defender.
Stay tuned.