E.C.D. Automotive Design had long wanted to rebuild a classic Land Rover Defender on pure electric power – and the first vehicle of this kind finally left the garage this week.
The Project E-Lander was led by the subsidiary of the company in England, conveniently located mere 60 kilometers from Jaguar Land Rover. The choice of location is hardly coincidental, because the tuner received assistance from JLR’s Electric Classic Cars (E.C.C.) for the project.
As for the Defender itself, the rugged off-roader landed up with a 450hp (336kW) Tesla powertrain that enabled it to sprint 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in under five seconds. The tuner reports that clients may opt for a 600hp (447kW) build; the sprint time might fall below four seconds in this case.
Other than the above points, the restomod is largely identical to everything we have seen E.C.D. produce so far: the body, the chassis, the wheels and the cabin are customized to suit clients’ wishes. The company churns out around 60 such Defenders annually, and it seems like many of them will be getting electric powertrains from now on.