The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Photos of First Jeep EV Leaked
I recently reported on Jeep’s official announcement of its first production EV: the Wagoneer S. Jeep revealed the final horsepower number will be 600 and the 0-60 mph target will be 3.5 seconds. But it did not reveal photos of the final vehicle (even though we’ve seen prototypes at auto shows). Then, it posted and deleted a social media post with more photos. I took a look at the leaked images and, I’ll be honest, I like most of what I see.
The good: dat silhouette
I love it. Jeep-like but sleek. If they called this a Cherokee I’d have different feelings. But Wagoneer has always been a tech-loaded luxury sub-brand.
The bad: hollow aero elements
When Dodge revealed the Charger Daytona EV it kept the “hood” silhouette high by leaving hollow aero elements in the grille, despite not needing the space for an engine. And I didn’t hate it. But in the Wagoneer, that aero element is at the back and it cuts into useable cargo space. All is forgiven if it helps with range, but Jeep has yet to release range numbers.
The ugly: LED grille.
EVs. Don’t. Need. To. Glow. But this has become the signature of EVs anyway. ICE vehicles could have had full-widths LED light bars years ago. There’s a reason they don’t. They look cool at first but get old fast. If automakers are trying to pitch EVs as serious daily drivers, they shouldn’t be designing them to look like novelties.
The unnecessary: Jeep badge
When the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer dropped, Jeep made it clear that Wagoneer is a sub-brand. And sub-brand it should remain. This is especially useful when Jeep wants to sell luxury-priced new EVs, but to also continue selling ICE vehicles (such as the good old Wrangler) to die-hard fans. There’s a Jeep badge on the back tailgate of this thing, but I don’t think it’s at all necessary.
The fistful-of-dollars question: What is the charging speed?
We know Stellantis will make this chassis in 400 volt and 800 volt configuration. I’m keeping my fingers crossed the Wagoneer S will be 800, because that could drop charging times so low it would completely change how easy this crossover is to roadtrip. We need efficient little EV station wagons with relatively small batteries and 800-volt charging speeds. And we need them now. I hope the Wagoneer S is one of them.
Learn why the Wagoneer S might be faster than the Trackhawk, or see the Wagoneer S concept in the video below:
