There’s no doubt the new Land Rover Defender would look quite stunning at Cabine du Cap, but it wouldn’t be without a degree of irony.

With Cabine du Cap’s main camp, and indeed the new villa, Caracal, being 100% off the grid, petrol/diesel-burning vehicles aren’t exactly singing off the same hymn sheet. Neither are 100% electric city cars, which look somewhat silly in the beautiful Klein Karoo terrain.

Enter the all-electric version of the classic Land Rover Defender! Whilst not an official Land Rover variation of the much-loved 4X4, they should probably consider getting involved.

According to Robb Report:

Twisted’s Virginia outpost already sells Defender outfitted with a 6.2-liter GM V8, but it plans to start selling the all-electric NAS-E in the very near future. The zero-emission SUV will be powered by a transplanted electric drive train made in collaboration with Dutch company Plower.

The drive train features a single electric motor and is devoid of a conventional transmission. Despite this, drivers will still be able to select gears to make off-roading easier. It will also be available in two versions, one that 214 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque and another that offers 320 hp and 339 lb-ft of torque.

With a range of 320km, this baby can get you from Cape Town to Cabine du Cap, and back again. Not that you need to keep things that tight. Best would be to plug it into the solar farm on the estate, to give you a fresh helping of juice.

No noise. No fuel burn.

Here’s a glimpse of the battery packs, powering that beast.

Here’s some more:

It’s currently unclear, how many of NAS-E 4x4s Twisted will produce, but the auto magazine reports that the company spent $10 million acquiring 240 of the final Defender. Initially the electrified Defender will be available in three colors, Malibu Yellow, Yosemite Green and Tahoe Blue.

The standard NAS-E starts at $185,000, while the more powerful NAS-E Plus starts at $210,000.

I’ll let you do the converting into Rands, but suffice to say it’s north of three bar.

Punchy, to say the least.

We’ll take the green 😉

[source:robbreport]