Plug-in hybrid technology makes a very good 4x4 even better, but there is a catch
MATT PRIOR @matty_prior
TESTED 20.4.22, MALAGA, SPAIN ON SALE NOW (US)
We’ve called the Jeep Wrangler a great hobbyist’s 4x4, the ideal set of wheels for leisurely green-laning or off-roading. And I don’t think there’s a better variant than this 4xe plug-in hybrid version.
Not just because it means you can commute the daily grind on electric power and make longer weekend trips with its 2.0-litre engine. No, better than that is going off-roading on electric power alone. The doors and roof can be taken off a Wrangler quite easily. With the sun out, and only a gentle whirr of the motor and the soft crunch of tyres on gravel, it’s a wonderfully immersive way to go about things.
Popular, too. The 4xe already takes 35% of US Wrangler sales and Jeep thinks it will be over 50% by the end of the year.
It’s a complicated system. There’s the regular 2.0-litre 270bhp four-cylinder turbo engine at the front, but it’s augmented by two electric motors. One is an integrated starter-generator geared from the front of the engine, with 39bhp and 44lb ft, boosting low-end torque much like any mild hybrid does. There’s also a 134bhp motor within the eight-speed automatic transmission. This sits between clutch plates and the gears and drives the car when you’re in EV mode.
So why the need for the smaller motor? Because the ZF transmission uses a multi-plate clutch rather than a torque converter, and the big drive motor is always connected to the wheels. The smaller motor can start the engine and charge the battery when the car’s stationary. The large motor couldn’t unless the gearbox was in neutral.
This also means that the drive motor acts through the entire transmission just as the engine does, so Jeep’s long-developed four-wheel drive system, its low-ratio transfer case, eight speeds and solid axles with locking differentials work just as they would with the engine.
The difference is that instead of slipping the clutch in and out during low-speed moves, the electric motor eases itself in and out of rest seamlessly, with its quick responses, easy modulation and 181lb ft from standstill.
The motors and 11.7kWh battery make this 2369kg Wrangler around 360kg heavier than an equivalent 2.0-litre
