The most fuel-efficient SUV in South Africa has a ludicrously low consumption figure of 0.7l/100km.
The vehicle in question is the Range Rover P460e, which the manufacturer claims is able to use less than a single litre of petrol for most journeys, though this comes with a major caveat.
As efficient as travel can get
The P460e is a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), which allows it to travel on nothing but electricity for the majority of trips, helping it to avoid dipping into its fuel reserves.
The powertrain consists of a 3.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, which is paired with a front-mounted electric motor.
On its own, the e-motor can produce a total of 160kW, more than enough to drive the car by itself for limited distances.
This motor is powered by a 31.8kWh lithium-ion battery pack that affords an all-electric driving range of 121km.
The theory behind any PHEV is that the majority of trips that owners make on a day-to-day basis are actually rather short, consisting of the drive to work, to drop the kids at school, or to nip off to the grocery store.
A range of 121km may not sound like much on its own, but when you consider it in the context of a daily commute, it is more than enough for the average person, which means a PHEV can functionally operate as a fully-electric vehicle most of the time if the user remembers to plug it in at the end of the day.
It’s only when motorists have to travel further afield that they may need to rely on the combustion engine, at which point the car operates just like any other petrol guzzler.
Even then, the fuel consumption tends to be rather good, as the owner is likely to be travelling on the freeway if they need to get somewhere further than where the battery can take them, which is when a combustion engine is operating at its most efficient.
There’s also nothing stopping users from driving their PHEV on electricity until the charge is depleted before switching over to the engine, minimizing petrol usage even further.
This is why PHEVs like the Range Rover P460e or the BMW X1 xDrive30e have an absurdly low manufacturer-claimed consumption figure, as these numbers are calculated during road testing that accounts for what a typical owner will be doing on an average day.
While this all sounds great, the downside is that PHEVs are incredibly expensive as you are essentially paying for two different powertrains on one vehicle.
Most plug-in systems are also currently relegated to high-end brands like Range Rover or BMW in South Africa, which puts their price tag even further out of reach for the average motorist.
Such is the case with the Range Rover R460e, which retails for a cool R3,395,000, meaning that anyone who can afford one likely isn’t that bothered by petrol prices to begin with.
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