History of Electric 4×4s

The history of electric 4×4s has yet to begin.  Even though there has been some innovation in the industry, by and large there are no electric 4×4s that can be purchased for a reasonable price and drive on or off the road like a normal 4×4.  What has happened up to now will be an eventual footnote or paragraph at the start of the history — and that’s about all.

With that disclaimer in mind, what has happened so far?  Well, not much.  In this decade, there has been a lot of research and testing of electrification, but rather than actually making a 4×4 fully electric, different aspects of the car have been electrified so that things can slowly move into the direction of full electrification.

A good example of this is adding electric components to the car such as in 2004 with the Honda Boss 390.  Another example of this would be the creation of hybrid engines, although, as of now, not one of them has really come along that could match the raw power of a combustion engine.  4×4 vehicles are generally all about raw power, so not surprisingly, hybrid and electric engines have not really come along that well in this particular area.

In the end, to give electric 4×4 vehicles a change, they would need a lot of available electricity, combined with an excellent storage system advanced from current technology. And unless we start powering vehicles with nuclear reactors, it seems as though that is a long way off.