Report: Range Rover Plug-In Protoypes Being Tested With Rapid-Charging
By John O'Dell May 11, 2010
Just because Jaguar Land Rover has been late to the hybrid game doesn't mean owners of its future plug-in hybrids will have to lose time charging them up.
Jaguar Land Rover, which said late last year that it would develop a plug-in diesel-electric hybrid version of its popular Range Rover Sport, is testing five prototypes in Great Britain in conjunction with power provider E.On that can be almost completely recharged from an E.On fast-charge point in about 20 minutes, according to subscription-only Just-Auto.com.
Using a slower-charger, the test cars, which cost about 2 million British pounds ($3 million) each to build, according to the U.K.-based automotive research firm, can be 80 percent recharged in about four hours.
Jaguar Land Rover, which India-based Tata Motors Ltd. bought from Ford Motor Co. in 2008 for about $2.3 billion, said in December that it would develop a diesel-electric hybrid version of the Range Rover Sport for a 2012 debut.
Improved fuel economy would mean that the hybrid SUV would emit a scant 100g/km of CO2, or about a third less than the competing Lexus RX450h, the company said.
Early road testing of the Range Rover Sport prototypes, which have a top speed of about 120 mph, shows, however, that they actually emitting just 70g/km of CO2, Just-Auto reported.
The vehicles can run in electric-only mode for as far as 20 miles.
Land Rover is under pressure throughout Europe to improve the CO2 footprint of its SUVs and has already developed a stop-start system for manual gearboxes and will do the same for automatic gearboxes by the end of next year.
Because CO2 levels are a direct result of the amount of carbon-based fuel consumed per mile traveled, the emissions reductions measures adopted for the European market could help Land Rover meet toughened U.S. fuel economy standards moving forward.
Jaguar Land Rover's efforts to boost fuel efficiency so far has been largely limited to developing a smaller Land Rover SUV slated for sales next year and to planned use of lightweight aluminum for all of its vehicles' bodies. The company also plans to launch a full hybrid model in 2013 ad a fuel-cell electric model by 2024, according to the Just-Auto report.
Britain's Autocar magazine reported in February that the company had built an all-electric version of the Jaguar XJ sedan that will be converted into an extended-range electric vehicle like the Chevrolet Volt, but there's been little public information beyond that and no confirmation from Jaguar
The automaker said in September that it would start selling a diesel-powered three-door Range Rover LRX SUV IN 2011.
That model, which debuted at the Detroit Auto Show in 2008 and featured a 2.0-liter diesel-hybrid powertrain, achieved a claimed fuel economy of 60 miles per gallon which when running on biodiesel.
Danny King, Contributor
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