The Range Rover Electric’s 542bhp of peak power isn’t likely to cause too many heightened expectations in this department. We have so far only driven the car below 20mph, on a mix of single-track sealed roads and forest tracks; so impressions about on-road performance and drivability will come later.
And as far as offroading goes; Eastnor’s tracks were mostly dry on the day of our test, so didn’t present the challenge to this car’s outright traction and torque-vectoring capacities that they might have on a soggy December afternoon. But a cakewalk, they certainly ain’t. In places they climb and descend slippery gradients of more than 25 degrees, as well as twisting and turning around gulleys, and over rocks and ridges.
And yet the unflappable calmness with which the Range Rover Electric can simply ease itself up, down, over and around everything before it inspires incredible confidence in its capabilities.
Nothing seems to phase it. Nothing requires the merest run up, or suck-it-and-see hurried stab of power. It sniffs out traction bit by bit, like a mountain goatherd who’s rehearsed every step; and without any need to worry about keeping engine revs from bogging down, momentum from dying, or wheels from spinning away fruitlessly.
Without an asymmetrical motor layout, the car vectors torque in offroad situations via open diffs and brake interventions, using specially developed Terrain Response traction control software adapted for the torque of electric motors. “We can control a slipping wheel about a hundred times faster than in the standard car,” says Fairbrother.
The difference that makes to the Range Rover’s offroad capability is remarkable; and, in tandem with an apparent dearth of effort expended in what it’s doing caused by the lack of any revving engine, it makes for an air of assurance that suits a Range Rover quite brilliantly.
As well as being superbly quiet and calm when running on asphalt, there’s a serene composure about this car even at the toughest of moments. So accessible is the car’s torque, and so fine and effective its electronic governance, that you seldom need more than 40- or 50 per cent throttle to ease gently over the biggest roots, or out of deep ruts. The loudest noises you’ll hear will likely be water sloshing past the wheels, gravel crunching under the tyres, and the background hum of the air conditioning.