- Land Rover has acknowledged it’ll be challenging to electrify the current model’s architecture.
- An electric Defender could only happen with a complete redesign, which isn’t happening soon.
An all-electric version of the Range Rover is just around the corner, but an electric Land Rover Defender is not on the agenda for the British brand – at least not for the current-generation model.
Jaguar Land Rover has been building the current L66- generation Defender since 2019 offered with several different petrol and diesel engines, including a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid. Given the growing demand for high-end EVs, it could make sense for an electric version to be launched as a potential rival to the also electric Mercedes-Benz G580.
Electrifying the Current Defender? Not So Simple
According to JLR’s Chief Commercial Officer, Lennard Hoornik, electrifying the current Defender (built on the D7x platform) is far more complicated than it sounds. In an interview with Autocar, he explained that the existing platform simply isn’t suitable for an electric powertrain without major compromises, meaning we may have to wait until next decade for its replacement
Read: What Do You Want To Know About The Land Rover Defender With The Inline-Six?
“Electrifying the current ‘L663’ car, on its D7x platform, is not what we want,” Hoornik said. “The L663 is brilliant at what it does, and we do have a [four-cylinder] plug-in hybrid version already, but it’s not easy to find the extra space you need within that chassis for batteries, given the axle packaging and capability that it needs.”
Space, Space, and More Space
Hoornik went on to emphasize how difficult it is to fit the necessary EV components into the existing Defender’s architecture. The problem isn’t just about stuffing in batteries where they’ll fit; it’s also about maintaining the Defender’s off-road capability, which requires careful packaging of its axles and other components.
JLR has committed to offering electric models for each of its newly-formed subbrands, including Range Rover, Discovery, Jaguar, and Defender. “[We] remain committed to that,” Hoornik said, “but finding the space on the current Defender platform is really, really hard, so we will need to use something different.” He said that “the EV will need to come at quite a significant step in the evolution of the Defender.”
While Hoornik didn’t specify if this significant step will come with a new generation of Defender, that would be the most likely route the brand takes. Either that or it may have to build a distinct Defender EV sitting atop a unique architecture, selling it alongside the current ICE model.
