Wrangler 4xe First Drive: All-Electric Driving Makes for a Greater Jeep

Wrangler Rubicon 4xe is perfect for a short-distance commuter who wants Jeep off-road abilities.

The Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is everything that your average electric vehicle is not. It is literally shaped like a brick, it is big and it is heavy. It has large, aggressive off-road tires and a ride height that further reduces the aerodynamics. It is as old school as any modern vehicle, yet it is the first vehicle that the Jeep brand picked to introduce their 4xe hybrid drive system in the United States.

Compared to most hybrids and electric vehicles, the Wrangler Rubicon 4xe doesn’t offer very impressive statistics, but if all-electric mileage for the best possible MPGe are your main concerns, this isn’t the vehicle for you. If you want one of the most rugged, most capable off-roaders on the market that also offers all-electric driving range that meets the needs of many commuters, the Wrangler 4xe is fantastic.

Last week, we traveled to Austin, Texas to drive the Wrangler Rubicon 4xe on-road and off, and we are here to report that this SUV perfectly couples all-electric driving with the legendary Jeep feel. If you judge it only on the numbers, you might dismiss it, but if you look at the fact that the Jeep team has perfectly coupled the abilities of the Wrangler with an electric drive system, it is a great addition to the electrified vehicle world.

Driving the Wrangler 4xe

We began our seat time in the Wrangler Rubicon 4xe in downtown Austin with a fully charged battery. The vehicle has three drive modes – Hybrid, Electric and E Save. Hybrid has the gasoline and electric systems working in unison to yield the greatest possible fuel economy, with all-electric driving at points of low throttle input. The Electric mode is exactly what it sounds, keeping the Wrangler in all-electric drive unless you are asking for extremely high levels of torque. E Save mode maintains the level of battery charge while driving, which is ideal for saving some juice for a later portion of your trip. For example, if you want to save your electric power for the off-road course, the E Save mode allows that.

In our case, we drove out of downtown Austin in Electric mode and drove well past the 21-mile range of the battery, but when we got to the off-road area, there was a solar-powered Jeep charging station that allowed us to regain some electric power for the off-road fun.

While driving the Wrangler 4xe on the road in Electric mode under normal conditions, we made a few relatively hard pulls from a stop to see how well the beefy Jeep accelerated, but my hope was to see how many miles of all-electric range we could get without intentionally driving gently. The first time that the gasoline engine started was on a hard uphill pull at 17.7 miles into the trip, but as soon as we crested the top of the hill, the gasoline engine shut back off and stayed off until the odometer hit 20.9 miles.

At that point, the battery power indicator reached <0% and the vehicle switched into Hybrid mode. From there, the gasoline engine cycled on and off, with the electric drive system working during points of lower torque input while the gasoline engine would start and provide greater power levels and charging input for the battery system.

Regenerative Braking System

The Wrangler 4xe package also has a Max Regen Braking system which is controlled by a button on the center console. The Jeep people don’t call this a one-pedal driving system, but it is close to being one. With the system active, when you let off of the throttle, the brakes begin to apply with enough force to significantly slow the vehicle, including lighting the brake lights.

This maximizes the regenerative braking efforts without the driver’s input, but should the need to brake harder or suddenly pop up, the driver can hit the brake pedal as they can with any other vehicle. Those hybrid or EV drivers who have lived with a regenerative braking system in the past will surely appreciate this system right away, but those who haven’t had a similar system before will have to get a feel for how to make use of the one-pedal function.

While it helps to maximize regenerative braking input, the system makes the Jeep Wrangler 4xe easier to drive in traffic, as you can slow down a great deal simply by letting off of the throttle. If you don’t like how the system feels, you can turn it off with the push of a button, but we found no real reason not to use the system.

All-Electric Off-Roading

After letting the Wrangler Rubicon 4xe charge for a while at the Jeep-branded, solar-powered charging station, a small group of us headed out into the ranch for the off-road portion of the testing. Due to the hard rain that morning, the dirt paths turned to mud and the run-off areas turned to small streams, while the surface of the large granite rocks was like ice. Most vehicles would have stood no chance of making it from one end of the trail to the other, but the Jeep Wrangler is not most vehicles. The Wrangler Rubicon is the most capable, factory-built vehicle in the world, but this is the first to showcase those abilities with all-electric power.

With the Wrangler Rubicon 4xe in 4-low and driving in Electric mode, we started with a drive through deep, muddy water that would swallow up a compact car. The Jeep silently pushed through the deep water before digging through hundreds of yards of muddy cow paths. While making our way along the trail, the lack of engine noise allowed us to hear the tires at work in the mud along with the sounds of nature. After making short, silent work of the water and mud, we came to the rock climbing portion of the program, which posed the biggest challenge to any off-roader. The steep rock piles were tough on a nice day, but it poured rain all morning, it was still raining when we were there and we were constantly tracking mud up onto the rocks. This resulted in slicker surfaces and tougher off-roading, but the all-electric Jeep was up to the task.

One interesting aspect of the all-electric driving that I noticed right away was the instant torque response when climbing steep hills. With an ICE vehicle, you have to apply enough throttle to rev up the engine, leading to the power needed to climb, but there is some delay caused by the time needed to make that power. There is no delay in power delivery with the Wrangler 4xe in all-electric mode and there is no need to feather the throttle in order to keep the gasoline engine in its peak powerband. The linear delivery of the electric drive system leads to quicker and smoother power compared to gasoline-powered vehicles, making it a more enjoyable off-road machine.

Just as the Jeep folks promised, the Wrangler 4xe is just as capable as the non-4xe Rubicon models while also offering the luxury of all-electric driving, both on-road and off. If you want an unstoppable off-road machine that also offers enough all-electric range for a short daily commute, the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe is the best option on the market. Best of all, thanks to the $7,500 federal tax credit and the fact that the 4xe package only adds $6,000 to the cost of the Rubicon, these electrified SUVs effectively cost less than the non-4xe models without any sort of compromise.

Patrick Rall images for ElectricVehicleForums