The British Army will receive 4 electric Land Rover Defenders, refurbished from the classic ones, to test their suitability

It is probably hard to imagine any more inappropriate application for an electric vehicle than for military purposes. Perhaps in some auxiliary, peacetime transport missions, they may still have their place, but in truly critical situations, there will be no charging time and no outlet placed in the middle of the field. And yet, the British army will receive some classic Land Rover Defenders, modified for electric propulsion.

Two British companies, Babock International and Electrogenic, have partnered and managed to obtain a contract from the British Army to convert 4 Defenders from the army's fleet to electric propulsion, delivering them to the Armoured Trials and Development Unit, so that let them test them in real life and give the verdict on how suitable such electric Defenders are for the army. For now, the two companies have not announced which motors they will put on the classic Defenders and which batteries they will equip them with.

The army has announced that it will test their performance in battlefield scenarios, not just in assistance scenarios. Therefore, it will be interesting to hear in a year what conclusions the military will come up with. Officially, the test project is supposed to "investigate alternative propulsion opportunities for military vehicles in the context of diesel becoming obsolete".