Ineos mulls full-electric Grenadier off-roader

LONDON -- Ineos Automotive is looking at building a full-electric variant of the new Grenadier off-roader, company executives said.

Up until now, the U.K. automaker has favored fuel cell technology as its preferred route to achieving zero-emissions.

The company, a division of petrochemicals giant Ineos, will start production of gasoline and diesel versions of the Grenadier SUV in July. The vehicles will be built at a plant in Hambach, France, that Ineos bought from Daimler in 2020.

The SUV was conceived after Ineos CEO Jim Ratcliffe was rebuffed in his attempt to buy the tooling of the original Land Rover Defender from Jaguar Land Rover following the end of production of the old-generation Defender in 2016.

The Grenadier was engineered by Magna Steyr in Austria and will use engines supplied by BMW.

Inoes will trial a full-electric prototype by the end of the year, commercial director Mark Tennant told Automotive News Europe during a recent visit to the plant.

"Right now, that will probably add a ton of weight, but the battery tech is changing," Tennant said. "We do not know where the market is going."

Ineos will also start testing a hydrogen fuel cell version of the SUV by the end of the year.

"For the Grenadier, hydrogen fuel cell is a better way to fuel an electric vehicle because of its lower weight and greater capability," Ineos Automotive CEO Dirk Heilmann told Automotive News Europe. The weight of batteries cuts into the payload for the commercial variants. "If you want to move loads it's a bit of a problem," he said.

The company is relying on two-seat and five-seat van variants to expand sales in the U.K. and the rest of Europe.

Selling those alongside the five-seat SUV would mean the company could still be classified as a small-volume manufacturer and thus escape the strict 95g/km average CO2 limit demanded by the European Union.

Next year the company will add a longer double-cab pickup, another variant once offered by the original Defender

Ineos is able to sell up to 22,000 commercial vehicles and 10,000 cars in the EU under the small-volume special derogation. However, the company still needs to agree a CO2 target reduction with the bloc and for that it would need zero emissions offerings. Ineos has ruled out a plug-in hybrid.

A full-electric SUV will appeal to some specific customers, Heilmann said. "There will be off highway, specialist applications where range does not play a role, the mining industry for example but it's very specific," he said.

The company agreed a link up with Hyundai to supply a fuel cell drivetrain, but Heilmann said the technology for the final production version "would not necessarily" come from Hyundai.

A fuel cell version would not arrive until 2027 "at the earliest," Heilmann added.

The company is also mulling a short-wheelbase offroader, but hit a snag with its BMW drivetrain, which combines a longitudinal BMW inline six engine with a ZF eight-speed gearbox and would be too long for the smaller vehicle.

"We would not have enough space to get the driveshaft in at a reliable angle," Heilmann said, adding that the solution could be to make the model available only as an EV.

Ineos aims to start deliveries of the gasoline version in the U.S. in 2023, with orders starting later this year. The car will have a less prominent front fender due to the different pedestrian protection regulations there.

The company will target buyers of "top-end Ford Broncos and Jeep Wranglers" in the U.S. market, Tennant said.