Prime Minister can’t have an EV due to bomb risk

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could find himself exempt from the ICE car ban after Land Rover revealed it cannot build him an armoured electric Range Rover.

While sales of new combustion-engined cars are to be banned from 2030, Range Rover’s parent company JLR has said that a bomb-proof EV is not technically feasible.

That could leave the leader of the UK being ferried around in a petrol-powered car even as the rest of the country goes electric.

The Prime Minister has traditionally travelled in vehicles from UK car makers, and the armoured Range Rover Sentinel is the current car of choice for senior government figures. With the new Range Rover Electric due out in 2026, it was expected the Prime Minister would set an example by adopting that as his means of transport, but JLR has said it won’t happen.

The revelation was made by Tom Riley, editor of the Fast Charge EV newsletter, after he obtained a copy of JLR’s response to the ZEV Mandate consultation. In it, the Midlands-based manufacturer said it was in favour of a mandate exemption for “special purpose vehicles” including ambulances, wheelchair accessible vehicles and armoured vehicles.

It noted: “JLR does not see any workable engineering solution to the challenges surrounding an armoured BEV, primarily because the required safety levels and blast protection cannot be achieved.”

It also pointed out that the UK Government was JLR’s customer base for this kind of vehicle in the UK.

While JLR says an armoured EV isn’t possible, other manufacturers disagree. BMW already builds and sells the “Protection” version of its i7 luxury saloon. That raises the prospect of any Prime Minister switching to a foreign manufacturer in order to meet the Government’s own clean transport targets, or relying on V8 petrol-powered models built in the UK.

Riley noted: “ As funny as this story seems, clearly, it’s a valid concern. Of course, it would be delightful to see a Prime Minister zipping around in an EV, though not at the expense of them being blown to smithereens.

“As the biggest British manufacturer, we’d best keep our fingers crossed that JLR’s engineers manage to work this one out [otherwise] it could mean the Prime Minister and other senior ministers will be allowed to remain in petrol cars beyond 2030 – despite everyone else in the country being encouraged into EVs because of laws set by No10.”