Range Rover Electric confirmed for Australia as mule undergoes hot weather testing in the desert

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The first fully-electric Range Rover is confirmed for the Australian market, and will arrive following its official launch next year Drive can reveal.

New images have been shown of the Range Rover Electric, Jaguar Land Rover's second production EV, undergoing final testing in the UAE following Arctic Circle testing earlier this year.

"We can confirm that the Range Rover Electric will be coming to Australia," a spokesperson told Drive. 

"The start of sales date for Australian customers will be announced once testing is complete and the vehicle is officially launched. More info to come on this in 2025."

As well as putting its off-road abilities to the test, JLR carried out trials of its new thermal management system in temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius to ensure the vehicle will be able to cope with extreme temperatures.

The tests were carried out in Sharjah's Al Badayer desert, where a natural 300-foot-tall dune formation known as 'Big Red' provides Dubai's greatest desert hill climb.

According to JLR, all Range Rover vehicles are subjected to completing the ascent five times without showing any reduction in performance before they are allowed to go on to the next testing stage. 

The firm claims the Range Rover Electric completed the feat with flying colours.

"A hot climate is one of the most challenging for any battery electric vehicle, because of the need to cool the cabin and optimise battery performance at the same time," said Thomas Muller, Executive Director for Product Engineering.

"The additional challenge of driving on sand requires controlled low‑speed torque, so our specially-developed traction control and thermal management systems work in harmony to ensure power delivery is unaffected. 

"Our tests have shown that in this climate, repeatedly driving the equivalent of 100 metres uphill on fine sand, Range Rover Electric matches the performance of its ICE (internal combustion engine) equivalents; in some instances, even surpassing them – thanks to the introduction of these new features."

The EV's new Intelligent Torque Management system was also put to the test, which replaces a conventional ABS-based traction control system.

Range Rover says the new system improves traction control off road by distributing power to each individual electric motor, reducing the torque reaction time at each wheel from around 100 milliseconds, to as little as one millisecond.

The mule seen testing in the UAE looks almost identical to the existing ICE Range Rover, though the car maker has yet to release any specific technical details or performance figures for the EV.

It's based on the same Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) platform, and we know that it will use an 800V charging architecture.

Range Rover has previously hinted, according to Autocar, that performance will be similar to the existing V8-powered model, which would put power close to 390kW, and it will be built at the Solihull plant in the UK alongside the mild-hybrid and PHEV versions.

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