NGL - I swore my next car would be an EV years ago. But, as I started getting serious about looking at cars, none of the EV's currently on the market really blew me away like the Bronco and Defender did and there are just too many Teslas around to get excited about them any more. i swear, every other car is a Tesla where I live. I've also been been trying to get a garage built for almost a year to properly support an EV but the costs of lumber, high demand and lack of people in the workforce have left me thinking that I won't get the infrastructure to support EV at my home any time soon. I also have a second house near the coast where support for the EV is scarce. So, i started looking at PHEV, which i assumed would be the best of both worlds. But again, JLR didn't bring that to the US in the defender and the alternatives are either to petite, very expensive or very high in demand. I still have early reservations for both the Lightning and the EV Hummer. But, from my current observations, those are probably much further off than advertised. Lastly, I've been reading quite a bit about Toyota and their recent successes with prototypes using hydrogen, which makes me wonder if the EV is the wave of the future or already dead in some parts of the industry. I'd still prefer a PHEV version of the Defender but the P400 with MHEV seems like a decent compromise given the current state of the industry and the design queues balancing luxury with utility and modern with class speak to me and who knows if we'll ever see the PHEV Defender. Hell, I'm not even so sure I'll see my MHEV anytime soon.

 

Not until EV tech stops requiring me to pay extra for inconveniencing me more.

If you're going to make me wait 20 minutes to only go 200 miles then give me the vehicle at a discount not at a premium.

If you can give me 350 mile range in five minutes like an ICE I'll happily consider an EV for the same price for environmental considerations.

And if you can prove to me that most if not all the electricity that goes into my EV is from renewable sources, and you clean up your lithium mining and disposal environmental impact, I might be amiable to a 'clean energy' premium ... but until then, I am not paying extra and getting inconvenienced more for the marketed illusion of EV benefits when it's just dirty energy deck chair rearrangement.

 

EV is not capable of doing what I do yet with my Land Rover's. When towing the range penalty is massive. Charging in the national forest areas is limited to non-existent. I do think it will get there but not yet.

I also wonder on the environmental argument where all the clean power is at? Here they are adding more nuclear reactors, so that creates a whole new issue for the environment, plus all the additional mining for the battery components and refining of them etc. I almost wonder if it legitimately balances out. Not attempting to start a heated debate or argument just thinking out loud.

 

Electricity production varies significantly by location. For example, where I live (Tacoma, WA), somewhere around 95% of electricity production is renewable (hydro, wind). So the benefit of driving an EV around here is significantly greater than driving somewhere that derives most of its electricity from coal or other fossil fuels.

 

Isabella Boemeke would like a word with you. Don't open next to your wife.
https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/isabelle-boemeke-interview/
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I suppose you think the carbon footprint, the pollution and emissions emitted from coal burning/fossil fuel generated power plants to create the electricity to power your "zero emissions" vehicle is saving our planet?? Its a joke!! Hydrogen powered vehicles may get us out of this mess but certainly not EVs

 

I hope you enjoy the Tesla. Did I consider one? I don't think I got to the point where I could say I considered it. I researched it a bit. After hearing I needed to have a charger installed in my home so it could reach a full charge overnight and just as important the annoyance that you have to plan entire roadtrips around charging stations, naah. Wouldn't work for me at all at this point in my life, I need one vehicle which is capable of pretty much anything and that's why I went to the Defender. For certain lifestyles I can see a Tesla being a good fit though.

 

We’ve had a Tesla Model S 100D since 2018, and we will be keeping it indefinitely. It’s a joy to drive in town and on the highways around. Pure smooth unbridled unhesitating force when you need (want) to punch it. We installed a home wall charger to keep it topped up. Fortunately most of our electricity is renewable (hydro) or nuclear. Would I take the Tesla up north for fishing or country getaways, any more than 250km away? Hell no, that’s what the new Defender is for! They each fill their niches exceptionally well and we’re fortunate to have the choice. Does the renewable virtue of one offset the hydrocarbon sin of the other? It’s not that simple but I tell myself that anyway as I’m pumping in $CAD100’s worth of 91 octane into the Defender…

 

I think the viability of EV is entirely dependent on where you live. Here in the south, Tesla is popular in the big cities, but few charging options outside of the city. Here in columbia, the capital of SC, we have one Tesla station. In California, and the north east, they're everywhere. As much as I would like an EV, it is not a viable option in a state thats hostile to progress. This will likely be my last ICE car. If this car doesn't materialize (For whatever reason given LRs current track record), ill likely cancel the project, sell my Carrera T and switch to a Taycan 4 Cross Tourismo next year.

 

I've got a Defender 90X on order. I could not possibly use an EV in my work, being a geologist I go out in the field for extended periods. I go typically around `100 miles off road + the commute on surface streets to get to the exit point to site. So an EV just wouldn't work, unless RotoPax starts to make a blue can of electricity I can carry and dump in the car. Besides, if I want to spend an equal amount on a car built with the fit and finish of an 80's vintage Ford Granada I might as well just bike. The latest report on the teardown of a Tesla S Plaid points out the seriously poor quality, fit and finish of a six figure vehicle:
Tesla Plaid Teardown Report

So patience rules and the Range Rover Supercharged solders on for at least six months more. This will be 10th Defender/Series Land Rover I've had on three continents. I've waited longer for them to get to where I was in Africa. Some places the boat only comes twice a year. I sold the 97 Defender prematurely expecting the Defender 90X before COVID. So the Range Rover is getting thrashed for the last two years. I recently made a custom adaptation of a Front Runner Slimline Rack to fit it for some of my gear and a perch to do some glassing of the rocks at a distance.