Three Range Rover
Diesel Hybrid prototypes have completed the ultimate engineering
sign-off test by traversing 13 countries over 53 days from the UK to
India. It is the world's first ever hybrid expedition along the Silk
Trail and one of the boldest driving adventures ever pursued by Land
Rover.
Hostile conditions on the route included asphalt roads riddled with vast and deep potholes, dusty desert trails in 109.4 degree heat and numerous miles of mud and gravel tracks and cattle trails. In addition, river crossings, passes clinging to the edges of mountains partly blocked by rock falls, the thin air of extremely high altitudes and the dense and erratic traffic of Chinese and Indian roads all added to the test of man and machine.
The Silk Trail 2013 expedition was the final validation test for the Range Rover Hybrid before it is signed-off for production. From its home in Solihull, UK, it blazed a trail through France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China (including Tibet), Nepal and India. For much of this distance the expedition followed the legendary Silk Road trading routes that first connected Asia with Europe more than 2,500 years ago. Overnight halts were made in hotels, hostels and tents at many of the same staging posts visited all those years ago by Silk Road merchants, missionaries and mercenaries.
Where the north and south Silk Roads split, near the remote city of Kashgar in north-western China, the expedition pioneered a mountainous route never previously completed by a vehicle from outside the country and never previously seen in its entirety by any westerner - the Xinjiang-Tibet highway, which put the new Range Rover Hybrid through its paces at heights of over 5,300 meters above sea level.
Negotiating tracks so sticky with mud that they were impassable to other types of vehicle, the Range Rover's hybrid engine combination - with a 35kW electric motor supporting the TDV6 3.0 liter turbo-diesel engine - returned excellent fuel consumption for a vehicle so spacious and powerful. Throughout the epic journey the Range Rover Hybrids typically returned 36 to 37 mpg.
Land Rover development engineers closely monitored data loggers fitted to each car, sending back more than 300 gigabytes of detailed technical records to their engineering team at Gaydon in the UK. The purpose of the expedition was not to test the reliability of mechanical components, which are already proven, but to fine-tune the calibration of engine and transmission software to ensure perfectly seamless performance in all terrains and extreme temperatures and altitudes.
Conditions in Central Indiana aren’t quite as extreme as on the Silk Trail, but reliability, fuel economy, and performance are always good features to have. Stay connected to Tom Wood Land Rover Indianapolis for the latest on the Range Rover Diesel Hybrid.
Hostile conditions on the route included asphalt roads riddled with vast and deep potholes, dusty desert trails in 109.4 degree heat and numerous miles of mud and gravel tracks and cattle trails. In addition, river crossings, passes clinging to the edges of mountains partly blocked by rock falls, the thin air of extremely high altitudes and the dense and erratic traffic of Chinese and Indian roads all added to the test of man and machine.
The Silk Trail 2013 expedition was the final validation test for the Range Rover Hybrid before it is signed-off for production. From its home in Solihull, UK, it blazed a trail through France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China (including Tibet), Nepal and India. For much of this distance the expedition followed the legendary Silk Road trading routes that first connected Asia with Europe more than 2,500 years ago. Overnight halts were made in hotels, hostels and tents at many of the same staging posts visited all those years ago by Silk Road merchants, missionaries and mercenaries.
Where the north and south Silk Roads split, near the remote city of Kashgar in north-western China, the expedition pioneered a mountainous route never previously completed by a vehicle from outside the country and never previously seen in its entirety by any westerner - the Xinjiang-Tibet highway, which put the new Range Rover Hybrid through its paces at heights of over 5,300 meters above sea level.
Negotiating tracks so sticky with mud that they were impassable to other types of vehicle, the Range Rover's hybrid engine combination - with a 35kW electric motor supporting the TDV6 3.0 liter turbo-diesel engine - returned excellent fuel consumption for a vehicle so spacious and powerful. Throughout the epic journey the Range Rover Hybrids typically returned 36 to 37 mpg.
Land Rover development engineers closely monitored data loggers fitted to each car, sending back more than 300 gigabytes of detailed technical records to their engineering team at Gaydon in the UK. The purpose of the expedition was not to test the reliability of mechanical components, which are already proven, but to fine-tune the calibration of engine and transmission software to ensure perfectly seamless performance in all terrains and extreme temperatures and altitudes.
Conditions in Central Indiana aren’t quite as extreme as on the Silk Trail, but reliability, fuel economy, and performance are always good features to have. Stay connected to Tom Wood Land Rover Indianapolis for the latest on the Range Rover Diesel Hybrid.
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