Range Rover Evoque P300e and Land Rover Discovery Sport P300e PHEVs debut

After launching 48-volt mild hybrid versions of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque last year, the iconic English off-road automaker goes all-in with the Discovery Sport P300e PHEV and Evoque P300e PHEV. Both share the Premium Transverse Architecture (PTA) designed for this purpose, the result being no compromises in passenger and cargo space despite the extra equipment. The Ingenium engine family adds a new 1.5-liter turbocharged gasoline three-cylinder for this application, sending its 197 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque to the front axle through an eight-speed Aisin automatic transmission instead of the nine-speed ZF automatic found in other company products. A synchronous permanent magnet motor integrated into the multi-link rear suspension turns the back wheels with 107 hp and 192 lb-ft. The setup provides the same all-wheel drive capability one expects from Land Rover, as well as a 41-mile all-electric range in the Evoque and a 38-mile electric range in the Discovery Sport. On the WLTP cycle, the Evoque returns 201.8 miles per gallon combined, the larger Discovery Sport 175.5 mpg.

A 15-kWh battery lives under the rear seats. Plugging into a 32-kW DC public charger restores 80% of charge in 30 minutes, the task taking 84 minutes when plugged into a 7-kW AC wallbox for home. Charging from a standard 220-volt UK home outlet restores a full charge in six hours and 42 minutes. The Ingenium engine gets its nourishment from a 57-liter (15.1-gallon) tank. The charge port lives on the opposite side of the car to the fuel filler door. Land Rover's InControl Remote app enables system monitoring and pre-conditioning by smartphone.

The PTA platform spreads electric system hardware throughout for better weight distribution, the exhaust running down the side of the chassis to leave room for central placement of the EV components. A belt-integrated starter/generator connects to the three-cylinder engine. There's a high-voltage junction box, DC-DC converter for the 12-volt system, and 7-kW on-board charger under the front seats. The rear motor housing contains another inverter. Brake-by-wire eliminates the vacuum servo, blending regenerative and friction braking and providing up to 0.2G of deceleration through regen. The system has lowered the center of gravity by 6% compared to the non-PHEV versions, both come with spare wheels, and are good for "the same ground clearance, approach and departure angles as the regular cars." 

The powertrain drive modes start with the default Hybrid, which mixes ICE and electric power as needed. Chris Carey, the vehicle engineer for both models, said his team "worked extremely hard to identify what are called ‘run requests’ to and from the engine, and eradicate them as effectively as possible. You can drive a considerable proportion of the time in EV mode." An EV mode limits propulsion effort to the rear axle, and Save mode leans on the three-cylinder in order to retain battery charge. Neither vehicle can be instructed to use the engine to charge the battery, Carey explaining that process as "desperately inefficient." The rear motors will always be able to contribute even at zero battery charge, however, "because [the vehicle] needs to have the capacity to be four-wheel drive at any time."  

The electric assist makes each crossover faster than the ICE-only models. The Evoque gets to 60 miles per hour in 6.1 seconds, the Discovery Sport in 6.2 seconds. Their electric motors max out at 84 miles per hour, above which the motor gets decoupled to improve efficiency.

Both models are available to order in the UK now, but production shutdowns mean deliveries won't begin until Q3 at the earliest. The Evoque P300e PHEV can be had in S, SE, and HSE trims in standard or R-Dynamic versions, starting at £43,850 ($54,150 U.S.) for the standard S, a £9,075 premium over the least expensive non-PHEV S model. The Discovery Sport P300e PHEV also comes in S, SE, and HSE, but only in R-Dynamic flavor, starting at £45,370 ($56,027 U.S.) for the S, a £3,520 premium over the entry-level Sport R-Dynamic.