25/04/2022
2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe First Drive Review | Killer road trip package
MOAB, Utah and AUSTIN, Texas — The Jeep Grand Cherokee rollout has taken the better part of a year to fully realize, but with the launch of the new 2022 Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrid, it’s all over but the proverbial crying. Well, at least until Jeep starts stuffing Hurricane inline-sixes under the hood. Anybody want to place bets on that timeline?
So, the basics. The Grand Cherokee 4xe’s powertrain is lifted pretty much directly from the Wrangler 4xe. They make the same power (375 horses) and torque (470 pound-feet). “Plug-in hybrid” is a mouthful, so you’d be forgiven for expecting that the powertrain itself is inherently complex, but mechanically, it’s quite simple.
Up at the nose, there’s a 270-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four engine (essentially the same one used as a standalone turbo-four in the Wrangler). Sandwiched between that and the eight-speed automatic transmission is a 100-kilowatt (134 hp) electric traction motor. This motor effectively takes the place of the transmission’s torque converter, with clutches on either side to control the flow of power.
Electricity is stored in a pair of batteries (17.3 kilowatt-hour total) saddled on either side of the Grand Cherokee’s transmission and driveshaft tunnel, which is a distinctive bit of packaging. Since this is a Grand Cherokee, the 4xe system is mated to Jeep’s “Quadra Trac II” 4x4 system with its two-speed transfer case. All told, this combo is good for slightly better EPA-certified all-electric range than the Wrangler’s (26 miles vs. 22), a much more robust 6,000 pounds of trailer towing, and a 47.4:1 crawl ratio.
In the hierarchy of Grand Cherokee, the 4xe looks outstanding on paper. It has more power than the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 (and gets to 60 a full second quicker, Jeep says), offers an all-electric mode, gets better mileage than the 3.6-liter Pentastar should you not take advantage of that all-electric mode (23 mpg combined vs. 22) and still does all the Jeep things. There’s even a Trailhawk with all the off-road bells and whistles, and yes, you can off-road it in pure EV mode.
