The Jeep Recon was/is the brand’s attempt at making a vehicle that works as both an everyday electric vehicle and an off-roader that’s true to the company’s trail-rated ethos. We haven’t driven it yet, but just from the stats David felt like the Recon could live up to expectations where the road ends.
It’s where the road exists that seems to be a problem for the Recon, and it might explain why the company has sold so few of them so far this year. The most recent sales report shows that the brand has only sold 82 Recons in 2026.
Car And Driver put the new Recon on its highway range test, and the results were almost offensively bad:
The Recon, with its 94-kWh battery pack, managed just 160 miles of range in our test. That result falls well short of the 222 miles of range the Moab launch trim is estimated to deliver, according to the EPA.
That is not great. This isn’t the EPA cycle, but a specific test C/D does that involves charging up an EV to 100% and getting on the highway and driving at 75 miles-per-hour. In this way, it’s probably more indicative of how Americans drive than the EPA test.
A range of 160 miles is just not acceptable out of that big of a battery. An efficiency of just 1.7 miles per kWh puts it in the same company as the original Hummer EV Edition 1 (1.4 m/kWh) and Mercedes-Benz G580 (1.4 m/kWh). The difference between those vehicles and the Recon is that they’re both gigantic.
A better comparison, sizewise, is the Rivian R2. Here’s the range and performance chart for the R2:
The Rivian, with a smaller 87.9 kWh battery, manages to get at least 330 miles even with two motors and AWD on the EPA range test compared to 220 from the Jeep. In the C/D test, the R2 was able to go 260 miles.
We haven’t done a side-by-side comparison, and it’s possible the Jeep is better off-road than the R2 (it’s also possible it’s worse). It doesn’t really matter if you can never get to where you want to off-road.
Even before there were any details out about the Recon, David guessed this might be a problem:
An inefficient overall vehicle design catered towards off-road capability works as an ICE, but in an EV, it causes all sorts of issues. Because it takes so much energy to get down the road thanks to those tires and aerodynamic inefficiencies like high ground clearance and sharp corners, range decreases just like it does on a gas car. But increasing the “tank size” on an EV is both heavy, expensive, and environmentally taxing. I could probably dig up some ABC coefficients from the EPA and roughly calculate how big of a battery, approximately, one might need in order to score 250 miles of range on a modern Jeep Wrangler (I’d have to make a few assumptions); suffice it to say: it’d have to be big. And thus, the vehicle would have to be expensive and heavy and filled with precious metals.
While the Recon has a more aerodynamically efficient design than a Wrangler, it doesn’t seem to matter much. The combination of the elevated ground clearance, inefficient motors, and all-terrain tires just seems to sap real world range.
I like the way the Recon looks (not a universal thought) and the concept of an electric off-roader is appealing to me. I just don’t understand who the customer is for such a compromised vehicle when Rivian’s most expensive R2 is less than the Jeep’s $70,000 price.
Top photo: Jeep
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these, on-road or off-road.
But at 160 miles of highway range and presumably even worse offroad range, this vehicle is more or less precluded from actually going offroad in vast swaths of the southwest. Hole in the Rock/Grand Staircase, San Rafael Swell, The Maze, Coconino, elsewhere – they all have 40-50 mile approaches.
Going to the end of Hole in the Rock in Grand Staircase and back is 130 miles, so unless you want to sit in Escalante for an extra day or two, this vehicle is a complete non-starter in areas like this. Moab has the same problem – this would burn half its range just getting to something like Gemini Bridges from Moab. Most people use Jeeps and 4Runners for trail access, not dedicated offroading, and this kind of range makes it unwieldy.
Jeep as an EV doesn’t really work in the West. I’m not opposed to EV’s, and not even opposed to EV’s as offroad vehicles, but they either need range extenders, better range, or a way to keep the weight down and track width down to be viable.
It should actually much better efficiency on offroad since speeds are much lower so there’s much less drag. But getting to and from trails is still a problem unless you enjoy driving slowly.
Depends on the off-road, a nice flat graded dirt road? Sure.
As soon as you add rocks, ditches or obstacles that need to be avoided you are wasting a lot of energy.
No you are just adding a few miles.
This is one of those times where the old saw about “In theory, theory and reality are the same. In reality, they are not.”
Regen braking is designed to work within standard on-pavement performance envelope. A lot of downhill / deceleration offroad exceed the regen envelope and end up using the physical brakes.
Having seen a number of EV’s try to make it down that road specifically (primarily Rivians), their range is shortened vs. pavement.
Stalantis really needs to launch leap motor in the US. The jeep evs have been such a failure. They didn’t learn their lesson from wagoneer s.
Pour one out for the Recon. We hardly knew you.
No regerts.
These things look so much like a Ford Bronco Sport that Ford should sue them for copyright infringement.
The pricing seems as ludicrous as the range, no wonder they don’t sell.
What a GD fail of a vehicle. My Ioniq5 XRT on lifted suspension and all terrain tires has a lifetime average of 3.6m/kwh over 9000 miles, with trips often in the 4.5 m/kwh range. To not even get half of that in this brick is a complete engineering fail. Yes, it’s bigger but that level of inefficiency is not acceptable here. It’s like bringing out a modern gasoline vehicle that gets 11 MPG. There’s just so much better out there.
Don’t worry, Stellantis has the 11 MPG ICE side covered by Ram, no doubt.
I think you mean 3.6 mi/kWh. m is meters.
That picture makes it look like they’ve just jettisoned the doors to try and eke out a bit more range.
It does! But I bet having the doors off increases drag and reduces range even more.
Seems to me, without the doors but still having the rear window you might save some weight but are making it super non-aerodynamic – like a big parachute. I’m sure somebody on here with some actual knowledge on the subject can tell me if that’s the case.
Anyone else just learn of the existence of this vehicle today? Until the morning dump I’d never heard of it. Looks like there are 9 available at dealers within 150km of me, all tagged as being built. And I live in the Toronto area, so that is probably the densest concentrations of Jeep dealers in the country.
Could this be a vehicle I never actually see?
I’d never heard of it until I read this article.
Same, but I also couldn’t care less about Stellantis products. Especially Jeeps. Too inefficient for me to ever consider owning.
I have heard the name, but had no idea it was available for sale yet. Much like their EV Wagoneer (which is not a wagoneer nor a grand wagoneer, but rather Cherokee sized) they probably haven’t been advertising it because of embarrassment.
I heard about it a while ago and was intrigued. But then I forgot, and this is the first time I’ve heard anything about it in a long while.
I had heard of it but thought it wasn’t for sale for like another year.
They had one of these at my local auto show this year. It was parked in a dark corner of the Jeep section, locked, in a non-descript color with no signage on it at all. Hidden in the shadows like the bastard child you’re embarrassed to be seen with in public.
Every other automaker with a prototype or brand new vehicle had theirs on an elevated display with spotlights and a dedicated spokesperson.
At the Jeep display on a crowded day people were walking by this random unmarked car without giving it a second glance or knowing what it was. So weird!
I knew about this vehicle but though it had been cancelled along with all the other EV / PHEV projects when the new CEO came in.
$70K? LOL!
“All-electric Stellantis product”
Guys I know it’s spooky season but damn
How is this even possible?
Chrysler, Dodge, DaimlerChrysler, Jeep, RAM, AMC, FCA, STLA needs to hang up their hat(s).
I am a Jeep wrangler owner and shopping for an EV and I would not touch this thing unless it was 1/2 the price.
I could go out and get a $30K EV AND!!!! a $40K Wrangler and be better off.
Yeah this would have been a cool replacement for the FJ and Polestar 2 but my god the price and the range (and it being a Stelllantis product) make it DoA for me.
Just doing the math, the R2 tested at 78% of the EPA rating and the Recon tested at 72%. That doesn’t seem like a spectacular fail, just an expected one. The max range figure is a failure, sure, but also obviously lower than other competitors. In short, none of this is a surprise if you think about it for 2 seconds based on already public info on the Recon.
From that perspective I agree. The real issue is how they manage to get so little range out of 94 kWh pack.
Yep. This is another facet of the big issue, which is that they didn’t do a good job with the fundamentals of this thing.
100% this. Does it need to be more efficient? Yes. Is it shaped like a brick? Also yes. My Mach E on the highway will, on a good day, go about 200mi at 75. That’s about 73% it’s overall epa rated milage of 270 as well. It’s just with a more efficient vehicle and can do more with less battery. This is pretty much what I expected after seeing the range revisions and knobby tires.
Agreed with that analysis. Also saying 1.7 mi per kWh puts it in the company with bigger square vehicles that get 1.4. Ok of course. Its like a small car that gets 34mpg is in the same company as a bigger car that gets 28mpg. Point being what exactly?
This is what I came down here to say. My math came out different but I didn’t visit C&D so maybe I had the initial range of the Rivian wrong.
This is exactly what I’d expect on the highway. I went into my EV knowing that if I took a road trip I’d be taking back roads to maximize the range and just see parts of the country and state that I hadn’t before. That’s been pretty liberating and I’ve seen towns and museums I never would have otherwise.
The Wrangler and the Hummer had similar fuel economy figures last time they came around too.
They had to know from internal testing this was going to be bad.
Insane fumble. I try to root for Chrysler as a perennial underdog, but this is indefensible as a consumer product in 2026.
Also, this should be the EPA test, or at least part of it, akin to city and highway mpg ratings. Very few are going to really care about max range when doing mixed driving, because of home charging, or at least easy access to charging. Range is really only relevant on road trips, and that number should be published.
I agree entirely. Nobody is doing 300+ miles a day at city or suburb speeds.
Quoted range should always be highway range. Or break it out like they used to.
Rideshare drivers might be the only ones that care about range and actually use it on city and suburb streets.
I like your suggestion of breaking it out, EPA range needs city/highway like gas mileage.
Just pretend that it’s the 80’s again and it’s ok.
It’s like they forgot why Teslas are shaped like eggs.
My decidedly not the most efficient MY has been getting 4.3-4.5 miles per kWh lately on my all highway commute. Thanks to mild weather and a construction zone dropping to a 55 mph speed limit going up the longest hill. Usually it’s closer to 4. I get 2 miles/kWh towing my camper. Major Stellantis fail here.
Little known fact: During the week they did R&D on this thing, Recon was short for hurry up and Reconnect it to the charger!
If the recon had an 800V architecture that would allow it to recoup 70% of the battery in under 20 minutes.. it would probably not be a terrible vehicle to road trip in and the range and efficiency would be something it could recover from…
Jeep doesn’t mention charging performance anywhere on the website… so… my concern is that recon is going to need 30-40 minutes to recover 120 miles of highway driving range.. which is ROUGH.. and that’s before we talk about cost.
But cost per mile on a road trip with this? might as well be driving a 12 mpg wrangler Rubicon.
Agreed, and at 75mph on the highway I can get nearly 18-19 in my lifted big tire wrangler.
The Wagoneer S, which has the same battery afaik, does 10-80% in 27 minutes which is about average for the US and is not uncompetitive. Of course, one of those Chinese batteries that does it in under 15 minutes would be nice but alas.
you’re absolutely right, the battery performance isn’t bad.. it’s just not good enough to offset the awful efficiency.
the Hummer EV and the other Ultium based trucks have insane sized batteries.. and the trickery GM came up with allows them to pull double the charging rate down that the Recon can.. which offsets their efficiency when driven on the highway and allows them to be used for road trips.
Time to retcon the Recon. Count me among those with a strong dislike of its appearance, too. Were we supposed be impressed that the doors come off?
What an absolutely laughably bad product. I genuinely do not understand who this thing is for, 70k and barely 220 rated miles of range, with sub-200 actual. These, the Hornet, any Maserati, and Charger EV are going to be neck and neck for longest time on lot across the whole industry.
This is for the ID Buzz owner who also needs an EV SUV.
Should just come from the factory with an H-swap. What is that? You swap the J for an H in the logo, so everyone knows that’s you’re driving a HEEP.
This thing won’t even make it from the order speaker to the pickup window at the Biggby Coffee drive through.
And my gas car could NEVER get it’s 27mpg Highway rating doing 75mph either.
Funny how that works? Are people actually that dumb enough so they feel the need to do articles like this?
Glad I stopped supporting C&D.
Are you new to this country?
While C&D does indeed suck these days, a gas car will get refueled in like 2 minutes. Plus you can carry with you gas cans if you are going off-roading and need more range.
If an EV doesn’t have a minimum of around 250 miles, it is seen as utterly useless to most people. Especially since everyone is told to normally top off at 80%, so you just lost the top 20% of your range. And cold weather will drop your total another 1/3 or so.
“Plus you can carry with you gas cans if you are going off-roading and need more range”
Exactly. This Recon is not a very good proposition in my part of the West.
With this, you can carry a generator and some cans of fuel. No problem!
Best not be in a hurry to get somewhere in that case.
Yeah, what kind of fuel? Gas?
Whole lots of energy conversion going on, when you can just stick with gasoline and leave it at that.
I’m not totally against EVs, but Stellantis seems to be striking out one after another when it comes to their EVs in the US.
Gas, diesel, propane, you know, whatever the generator runs on. I was being sarcastic/making a joke. I’m sorry it didn’t land.
Tesla fanboys have really made it tough to distinguish between crazed EV adopters and just regular people just want to get to a destination.
Yeah, that’s true. I don’t mind EVs or ICE. it’s all just energy. This particular vehicle has an inexcusably short range though.
I don’t get how Stellantis US is so utterly inept when it comes to EVs compared to their European arm, which is churning out some decent looking hot hatch EVs. Sure, they don’t need as much range as Americans will demand, but still.
Plug a little solar panel into the USB and you’ve got yourself a perpetual motion machine.
What an irrelevant and anecdotal take. C&D isn’t comparing gas to EVs here or even trying to make this car look bad (doesn’t seem difficult to do though). The point is to drive the car like real people who, in America, absolutely would drive their car at 75mph on the highway until they have to refuel/recharge. They are reporting ACTUAL range in a standardized way and the fact that their standards for comparison are different than the EPA’s generous ones is the whole point.
Dunno, my gas car gets 10-20% higher mpg at 75mph than the EPA rating. My gas SUV with a small lift get about 10% less. This Jeep takes almost a 30% hit. Seems worth noting.
This. My Legacy gets more than what the sticker said if I’m cruising over flat terrain at 75 MPH. My in town tends to be lower than what the sticker said, though.
I’ve found that since the 2027 change to the EPA fuel economy formula it is easy to beat EPA ratings.
The problem with EPA ratings for EVs is that they don’t have a city, highway, and combined range. Instead the window sticker only has the combined range which is almost always higher than the highway. However, it is highway range that matters most because longer trips is where range is important.
So what Car and Driver does makes sense. They drive every EV on a flat highway with the cruise set at 75 mph and see how far it goes. 75 mph is a real world speed for highway cruising.
It just looks so bad with the doors off. Why didn’t they just skateboard a Wrangler on an EV battery?
It looks so bad with the doors ON too.
This is going to sell about as well as the Charger. WTF is Stellantis even doing these days?!
You think 160 miles is bad? An EVified Wrangler would get *even worse*!
I wouldn’t worry about the range. If the 4xe is any indication, it will be on a flatbed being taken back to the service center long before the battery runs out of juice.
after the fire department leaves?
Isn’t 1.7 miles per kwh the same as the Telsa Semi?
No. Tesla Semi is 1.7 kWh/mile, or 0.6 mile/kWh.
General: Soldier, give me the Recon report.
Soldier: It’s a big bucket of fail sir.
General: Keep it under your hat, we’ll blame Carlos Tavares. (not pictured)
Edit: Apparently I can’t spell soldier.
The Recon will certainly help you become one with nature, as you won’t be able to return from it.
So, to put it another way, you get the full Land Rover experience for Jeep money?
Based on the price of the Recon, I think you’re getting the full Land Rover experience for Land Rover money.
Based on the photos of the Recon interior, you’re certainly not getting the full Land Rover comfort treatment for the price of a Land Rover.