Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the petrochemicals billionaire, is going green with the launch of an all-electric version of his Ineos Grenadier 4×4.
The Fusilier is the third vehicle in the line-up of Ineos Automotive and the first to offer zero emission.
The all-electric Fusilier will have a range of about 250 miles on one charge, although Ratcliffe said that, given the choice, he would drive a “range-extended” hybrid version, which Ineos intends to manufacture alongside the purely electric model.
Ratcliffe, 71, said the Fusilier originally had been intended to be battery-electric only until a few months ago, when Ineos had second thoughts on likely demand. “You have to have a green offering because the regulators say so, whether we like it or not,” he said, “but you cannot force the consumer to buy something they do not want. The consumer should have the choice.”
Referencing the recent slowdown in electric car sales in Britain and Europe, Ratcliffe said: “The consumer is saying they don’t want to buy one at the moment. You cannot force it down their throat, otherwise they will start voting with their feet.
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“There are two huge failings of electric vehicles. You cannot always get from A to B and you cannot always find a charging place that is available or that doesn’t have a queue. You can’t be too idealistic about it. You cannot have an ‘ideal solution’ if the customer does not want it.”
The hybrid version will have a charging capacity for about 160 miles, but that will be much farther with an engine on board acting as an auxiliary generator.
“I would go for the range extender,” Ratcliffe said. “It still has a low carbon footprint, so you can feel good about it but without the anxiety about range or filling up.”
The decision to go all-electric with the Fusilier means that production has been put back to 2027 at the earliest. It is to be manufactured at the Austrian factory of Magna Steyr, a contract automotive manufacturer.
The Grenadier and the Quartermaster, its pick-up truck derivative, are manufactured at a factory in France after Ratcliffe rejected a production facility in south Wales. He said Ineos was actively looking at production options in China and the United States.
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Asked if he was irritated that some in the industry had dismissed the Grenadier and Fusilier as a vanity project, Ratcliffe said the objective was for Ineos Automotive to be “commercially viable”.
