Oceanic
Member
- First Name
- Greg
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2022
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 31
- Location
- St Petersburg, FL
- Vehicle(s)
- 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4XE
I'd love to see more range squeezed out of the 4xE, but realistically that just isn't going to happen until there is a generational advance in battery chemistry that meaningfully increases energy density. There just isn't the space or weight available to add enough KwH to make a difference.
My 4xE reliably gets 25-26 miles on a charge (I live in a warm climate). Compared to any other EV or PHEV, that's straight-up terrible for a 17KwH battery. A Chevy Volt from a decade ago got twice that range on the same battery size. That's because the 4xE is still a Jeep, which is exactly why it is so popular: it has a primitive, user-serviceable drivetrain and suspension that bleeds off energy and has the aerodynamic properties of a heavy brick. It's also the most capable off-road EV or PHEV by a wide margin (save for possibly some of Rivian's offerings). So you take the good with the bad.
Just like gas Jeeps require a lot of fuel to get around, electric ones need a lot of power. F=MA hasn't changed. The physics is still the same.
A purpose-built off-road EV platform (something like the Recon) is going to do a lot better on energy efficiency, but it's going to lose a lot of modding capability.
Personally, I'm hoping that in 7-10 years (about the time the stock battery is getting iffy) someone will have built a solid-state pack that is a drop-in replacement with another 10-15 miles of range. The Wrangler's design is never going to be an energy-efficient vehicle, though- it's always going to get by on brute force.
My 4xE reliably gets 25-26 miles on a charge (I live in a warm climate). Compared to any other EV or PHEV, that's straight-up terrible for a 17KwH battery. A Chevy Volt from a decade ago got twice that range on the same battery size. That's because the 4xE is still a Jeep, which is exactly why it is so popular: it has a primitive, user-serviceable drivetrain and suspension that bleeds off energy and has the aerodynamic properties of a heavy brick. It's also the most capable off-road EV or PHEV by a wide margin (save for possibly some of Rivian's offerings). So you take the good with the bad.
Just like gas Jeeps require a lot of fuel to get around, electric ones need a lot of power. F=MA hasn't changed. The physics is still the same.
A purpose-built off-road EV platform (something like the Recon) is going to do a lot better on energy efficiency, but it's going to lose a lot of modding capability.
Personally, I'm hoping that in 7-10 years (about the time the stock battery is getting iffy) someone will have built a solid-state pack that is a drop-in replacement with another 10-15 miles of range. The Wrangler's design is never going to be an energy-efficient vehicle, though- it's always going to get by on brute force.
Sponsored