Range Rover Sport Electric Prototype First Drive: Shockingly Familiar

The Range Rover Sport EV has been a long time coming. After what feels like an eternity of teasers and test mules, the electric Range Rovers will finally be launched globally in September this year and should arrive in Indian showrooms around March 2027. Look at the car and you may wonder what took the company so long, because this appears to be just the regular Range Rover Sport. That, as it turns out, is entirely the point.

Under the familiar skin sit 300 patents’ worth of tech, a new 800V electrical architecture, two 326hp motors and a 118.5kWh battery, all validated over 60,000 hours of testing, the most for any Range Rover yet. The motors are Land Rover’s own design, developed in-house because nothing off the shelf could deliver the kind of instant, finely controlled torque the brand demanded for serious off-roading. The only real giveaways on the outside are a grille with narrower air slots and a new set of alloys with a more aero design, in keeping with the EV theme. Land Rover deliberately didn’t tamper with the styling because customers were clear – don’t change it, just make it better.

The new architecture, motors and battery have gone through 60,000 hours of testing.

So, is it better? A specially curated lap of the Goodwood circuit, complete with gravel stages and some party tricks, was our chance to find out.

Range Rover Sport Electric Prototype: performance, ride and handling 

Set off, and the first impression is of eerie silence. All you can hear is the blower working overtime on a hot Goodwood day. Even when the tarmac ends and the gravel begins, the Sport EV feels like a magic carpet, gliding along on a pillow of velvet. The ride quality is absolutely exceptional, better even than the standard car’s, and that’s saying something.

When you want a quick turn of pace, the combined 550hp and 850Nm don’t leave you wanting. Engage launch control, and the Sport EV catapults forward hard enough to be a genuine shock, though the delivery is measured rather than manic. There is, however, a hint of torque steer from the front axle under hard acceleration, a slight tug at the wheel that reminds you how much force is being exerted. The brakes on our prototype also felt a bit grabby, with a sharp initial bite. Land Rover engineers admit this isn’t the final calibration and say production cars will have a more progressive pedal feel.

The Sport EV feels like a magic carpet, gliding along on a pillow of velvet.

Then came the fun exercises, laid out to prove that this plush, polished and uber-refined Range Rover can do things no owner would ever dare attempt. The Sport EV climbed a staircase – a cheeky nod to the brand’s world record 999-step climb – and we even drove it through the fuselage of an Airbus. Silly? Absolutely. But it showcased what makes an electric drivetrain so effective off road. Torque arrives instantly from zero rpm and builds with perfect linearity, and because the electronics can meter out drive to each motor with such precision, there’s no need for the old hardware of locking diffs and low-range gearboxes. Raise the suspension to off-road height, let the cameras and hill descent control do their thing, and the car simply walks over obstacles. The single-pedal mode is something the engineers have finally nailed too, and it works seamlessly alongside hill descent control when needed.

The big surprise is how tidily this near 2.8-tonne SUV handles. Flick the wheel suddenly, and you can feel the mass move, but otherwise, it stays impressively planted through corners, helped by a centre of gravity that sits a significant 73mm lower than in the combustion car. Range Rovers have always had a top-heavy feel when pushed; this one doesn’t.

Questions remain. A real-world range of 531km is promised, but given the bluff shape and sheer size of this flagship EV, that figure could prove optimistic if driven briskly. Some owners may have liked the convenience of a frunk in their EV, which is absent, and packaging the rear motor has killed off any seven-seat option. Then again, these are misses most owners may not miss at all.

Prototype badging aside, there’s little to separate this from the combustion-engined Sport.

Pricing isn’t announced yet, but expect it to sit above the locally assembled combustion equivalents. More importantly, on this evidence, it will set a new benchmark for luxury for the brand. The electric Range Rover Sport doesn’t reinvent the formula, but it quietly perfects it.