The Ineos Grenadier is one of the more exciting SUVs on the market. Since its debut back in 2020, the rugged off-roader has won fans with its looks, which are heavily inspired by the original Land Rover Defender. Now, Ineos is preparing to do something that Land Rover hasn’t: electrify the Grenadier and turn it into a battery-powered electric vehicle.
According to a report from Autoblog, the British automaker is now working on an EV version of the Grenadier, after kicking off production of the gas-powered variant last year. The battery-powered model could one day join the original Grenadier SUV and the recently-launched Grenadier pickup truck, which premiered at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this month.
If it makes it off the page and into reality, Ineos has some lofty ambitions for the Grenadier EV, telling Australian outlet Carsales.com that the model was designed to be “unbeatable” off-road. As Autoblog reports:
“The BEV is due in production early next year, Ineos Automotive CEO Lynn Calder spoke to Australian outlet Carsales about it. She said the off-roader is ‘going to be a skateboard-style platform — a monocoque is really the only way to go when you’re converting a Grenadier into an electric vehicle’.”
A skateboard-style layout would be in line with the platform Rivian uses to make its R1T electric pickup truck, which has also proved itself as a worthy off-roader since its launch. The layout has proven popular for many EVs as it packs the batteries in the car’s floor, keeping its center of gravity low.
The platform that Ineos could use to turn the Grenadier electric will be sourced from EV specialists Magna. According to Autoblog, Ineos could use the FM29 platform, which Magna developed with Fisker for the Ocean SUV. The battery pack and motors would be a good fit, as the Ocean and Grenadier are roughly the same size – at 78 x 187 inches and 76 x 191 inches respectively.
But what would using that platform mean for the Grenadier EV’s range? Well, as it stands, the Fisker Ocean manages 360 miles on a charge, but Ineos will no doubt want to put its own tuning on the motors and batteries to alter its performance. As such, Autoblog reports that the company is aiming for a range of 400km, which is roughly 250 miles here in the US of A.
Unfortunately, Ineos has little to share about a timeframe for when this new EV could hit the trails. But as the company has also committed to testing out hydrogen-powered models, it’s clear that sustainable off-roading is something that’s important to the British automaker.