Beep Beep! I Was Loaned a Jeep and This is My Take on the New Electric Avenger

Anna was loaned an electric Avenger for three weeks. Don’t tell her current car, but she thinks Jeep’s first foray into the EV market is as big a deal as Ron Burgundy.

Last year my sister rented an electric vehicle from the airport for a family catch-up in the Blue Mountains. After arriving at the Airbnb with barely 10% charge left, we spent the next hour Googling where the nearest charging station was, only to sit in a car park for four hours while it was hooked up to what we learned was a ‘slow’ charger (if you know you know). 

So, when we started working with Jeep and they mentioned loaning me the brand new Avenger EV (first and only in Australia I might add *shrug*), I was curious to see exactly how the electric charging situation in Australia had changed in just 12 months – were they like cafes, with one on every corner, or more like a Service NSW, hard to find and always busy AF?

As Jeep’s first-ever electric vehicle, the Avenger might not smell of rich mahogany but it is kind of a big deal.

Looks Good, Feels Great, Handles… Even Better

I learnt pretty quickly, that driving a Jeep, is like entering a secret society – with a wave from fellow drivers, and conversations with strangers in car parks, it was clear that Jeep lovers were very interested in the US brand’s first foray into electric vehicles, and after driving it for a few weeks I can understand why.

SUVs are kind of known for being fake 4WDs – they look like they can take you anywhere, but in all honesty, most SUV drivers are familiar with the clanks and scrapes of attempting to go anywhere mildly off-grid.

The Jeep Avenger is, somehow, comfortable in both city and off-road locales. Sure, you’re not full-on 4WDing anytime soon, but with six different terrain selections (including snow and sand), an uber-generous 200mm ground clearance, and 230mm water fording, it handled dirt tracks, giant puddles, and more than one bumpy unsealed road without a single concerning scrape of the undercarriage.

And when it came to city driving, it was a lot of fun! With a range of futuristic features like lane assist, autonomous emergency braking, and 360-degree cameras, the Avenger is zippy and sleek and navigates tight city streets and overtaking on highways with ease and grace.

The Jeep brand is synonymous with hardy, off-roading, adventurous cars. This little beauty was in all honesty… ruggedly sexy. The Avenger is stylish and sleek without losing the design touches we know and love from Jeep – the signature X tail lights and front grille to name a few.

It’s compact yet capable and has a huge 355L boot for all my camping (and climbing) gear.

Read more: I Took the Jeep Gladiator on Adventures for a Month – Here’s What I Loved About It

Inside, the car is a little less spacious, but with the boot packed and three people inside, it still felt far more comfortable than most small cars.

Taking me from the beach, to the city, and with a little dirt track driving thrown in, I was incredibly surprised that a vehicle this sleek was as hardy and capable as it was.

I love my little SUV (affectionately nicknamed Ebu) but handing back the keys to the Jeep Avenger was a sad day.

Built to Love and Respect the Environment

Owning an electric car certainly makes you feel like a better person. Driving without the gas-guzzling guilt of petrol vehicles, it feels nice to know your car isn’t contributing to our environment’s decline. But, there was something else I noticed about the Jeep Avenger, it felt attuned to nature.

With the electric sunroof slid back, there wasn’t a single groan or rumble from the engine bay, or toxic exhaust fumes rolling in – it was so quiet I drove around with a feeling of genuine connection to the bush outside.

Starting it up with just a push of a button, I checked multiple times if it’d even turned on, and, word of warning, it’s so quiet that pedestrians WILL walk out in front of you. Be aware!

The sounds of birds, the wind through the trees, and the crunch of gravel underwheel – this sexy, stealthy vehicle makes you feel like you’re driving a cloud.

Has the electric vehicle charging situation evolved?

I took a few trips with the Avenger, from Sydney’s Northern Beaches to the Blue Mountains, and up to the beautiful Jimmys Beach near Newcastle, and charging stations were widely available.

Obviously, they aren’t as readily available as servos (and don’t offer pies… rude) so it does mean a little more pre-planning than your usual road trip. But once we understood how long we needed to charge it, and how far each charge would get us, it didn’t take long and certainly wasn’t difficult to plan our trip with a few charge points pinned on the map along the way.

To charge the battery to full takes about 25 minutes – but full disclosure this is at a ‘fast charging’ station, which I admit were hard to find. On average, at most of the accessible charging stations I came across, it took a good two hours to fully charge the battery (around $15). So planning this time into your day will help keep your trip on track – sounds like just the right amount of time for a bushwalk!

To be fair, my main pet peeve wasn’t in trying to find a charger, but in the many different apps needed to operate them.

After three weeks with the Avenger, I’d downloaded and signed up to six different charging station apps. Now, this is definitely a first-world complaint and hardly outweighs the environmental or financial benefits of an electric car, but when you’re in a hurry, downloading and registering for a new app every time is a bit frustrating – but once you’ve got them you’ve got them so hardly an ongoing issue.

How far does it go?

From a full charge, the Avenger offers a range of approximately 390km.

Driving with a full ‘tank’ from the Northern Beaches of Sydney to Katoomba (a roughly 130km journey), I had about 60% charge left when I arrived. I plugged it in at the hotel (fun fact, lots of hotels offer chargers these days!), and an hour and $4 later, we were ready to hit the road for our next adventure. 

Read more: I Conquered(?) My Fear of Heights Climbing in the Blue Mountains

The car also has a regenerative braking function that helps to recuperate the charge as you drive. This definitely isn’t to be relied on as it’s pretty minimal, though in my research I read that the US and Europe are looking into building roads that actually charge EVs as you drive – futuristic! 

A Car Full of Surprises

Step inside a Jeep Avenger and you’ll find adorable little Easter eggs (not the edible kind) all throughout the car. Apparently, the brand is known to hide fun design motifs from geckos to the Loch Ness Monster, and in my case, a sweet little ladybird on the roof bar.

The first ‘Easter egg’ I noticed was the Avenger’s indicator sound. With my Spotify blaring, I initially thought someone had remixed my favourite song, but it turns out the indicator noise on the new Avenger sounds a lot like a funky drum beat – I was nodding along every time I turned a corner.

Amongst what I later learned was a whole host of cheeky hidden designs, my Lake Blue Avenger included on the windscreen a tiny outline of a child (the son of Jeep’s Head Designer) looking through a telescope at stars on the other side of the car, and on the rear window, the outline of the Turin mountain range he’s amongst – which felt aptly at home in the Blue Mountains.

Final Thoughts on the Jeep Avenger

With its adventurous spirit at heart, Jeep’s first foray into electric vehicles is, in my opinion, a big success. The Avenger is built with the environment in mind and not just because it’s electric. 

With mountain range and ladybird motifs, a huge sunroof, and a noiseless engine, I escaped the city for a much needed recharge in the mountains, and the Avenger allowed me to feel the wind and hear the nature around me, even while driving. And it’s good for the environment!

Don’t tell Ebu, but she may be going out to pasture.

Photos by @dayginprescott