2019 Range Rover Sport PHEV HSE

By Alex Forrest

Until recently, those who had fallen for the staggeringly handsome proportions of the Range Rover Sport and all the social connotations that it brings have had no electric-drive choices available to them within the model range.

Now though, one can choose a rechargeable Range Rover Sport. This means it has a battery for forward propulsion plus a petrol engine that can kick in when the battery runs low.

On its own, the electric motor produces 105kW and 275Nm. Once the battery reserves get down to a given level, the battery and the petrol engine work together to power the vehicle and combined, they make 297kW of power and 400Nm of torque.

The lithium-ion battery has a capacity of 13.1kWh, which can power you on electricity alone for about 50km. After that, the petrol engine will start to assist, and the vehicle will operate like a regular hybrid, with the petrol engine and electric motor working in concert.

Recharging can be done using a common wall socket or dedicated electric vehicle charging station.

So, if you were only travelling short distances and were charging it every night, you could be driving your Range Rover Sport hybrid with hardly any petrol consumption at all.  

The model we tested was the Range Rover Sport P400e HSE. After a full battery charge, the petrol engine would start up at around the 50km mark, meaning that if you recharge every night, you have a head start on your liquid fuel consumption every day.

Sweetening the deal was that even after the battery is depleted to a state where it can’t power the vehicle by itself, the electric motor still assists the petrol engine and together these provide perfectly adequate urge. The turbo petrol is also very quiet.

In this mode, consumption went to around 10L/100km – still good for a vehicle weighing 2.5 tonnes.

There is a compromise on boot space, which has a higher floor to make room for the battery.

The Range Rover Sport PHEV deserves to do well among those who want the refinement, reverence and ride quality of a Range Rover Sport but with option of almost fuel-free driving.