Although it was first shown to the public at the Geneva Auto Show, the Range-e was first announced in May of 2010 as part of CABLED, the Coventry and Birmingham Low Emissions Demonstrators consortium. This project puts 110 electric vehicles into the hands of people living in the West Midlands to drive them in real-world environments.
Five of these will be Range-e's, and their drivers have already been chosen. The Sport is a stand-out in the field: Aside from five electric British taxis, all the other vehicles in CABLED are small city cars. By participating in the program Land Rover will benefit from charging stations installed in the area to handle vehicle recharging.
Land Rover says they'll have hybrids using a diesel/electric power combo similar to the Range-e on the market by 2013, although there's no word on if and when a plug-in version will come to market. Price for each prototype is estimated at £2 million ($3.2 million.)
