Here’s your first proper look at the electric Range Rover and hey, it drifts!

This is the incoming all-electric Range Rover, and it looks… exactly like a regular non-electric Range Rover. It also looks nicely lairy, at least according to these initial pics.

Pics which reveal the company's engineering team very hard at work… drifting an electric heavyweight in -40 degrees in the Arctic Circle. Why? Probably because it looks like a proper laugh, but also because the battery and powertrain need to be tested in -40 degree weather.

Or what Range Rover describes as ‘extreme sub-zero temperatures’, designed to test the company’s new in-house EV setup. Said new setup will “allow Range Rover to exceed its already renowned performance on low-grip surfaces”.

Apparently, the electric Rangie's traction control distributes wheel-slip management to each individual electric drive control unit, as opposed to burying it in the ABS. This, claims Range Rover, reduces “the torque reaction time at each wheel from around 100 milliseconds to as little as 1 millisecond”.

It'll need to be sharp to stay on top of the e-powertrain's punch, because Range Rover has already confirmed the EV's performance will match that of a current V8 Range Rover. And a current V8 Range Rover develops 606bhp, does 0-62mph in 4.5s and tops out at 162mph. Impressive stats for a car that weighs the same as your average continent.

“To ensure we leave no stone uncovered, we are well underway with our physical testing and development programme, all designed at pushing Range Rover Electric to the extremes to ensure its capability remains unparalleled when it reaches you,” said RR’s product engineering boss Thomas Mueller.

Pushing it… sideways, too.