If your Range Rover Evoque smart key has stopped working suddenly, then do not despair! You are in the right place. In this post, we will show you how you can unlock your Range Rover Evoque if your smart key fob suddenly stops working. We will also show you how you can easily replace your  Range Rover Evoque smart key fob battery if your smart key doesn’t work when you press the unlock or lock button. 

Why is my Range Rover Evoque smart key/fob not working?

If you find that your Range Rover Evoque smart key isn’t locking or unlocking your car then the most likely reason is that your battery in your smart key fob has died. This is a really common problem and only takes a few minutes to replace the battery. Additionally, you can still unlock your Range Rover Evoque if your smart key/fob battery dies in case you are out and about and don’t have a replacement battery to hand.

How to unlock your Range Rover Evoque if your smart key battery dies

You will be forgiven for panicking if you are away from home and return to your Range Rover to unlock it only to discover that it does not respond. This can be usually down to 2 main reasons. Either the small battery inside the smart key/fob has died, or there is something wrong with the smart key itself. Most likely than not, in the majority of the cases it will be the battery that needs changing. However, if you find yourself away from home, not a battery or even a shop in sight, then do not despair, you can easily unlock your Range Rover and even start the engine with a dead key fob battery.

All the smart key/fobs come with a backup key either hidden inside or pops out with a push of a button. For Range Rover Evoque keys (2011 – 2018), all you have to do is slide the metal part of the casing in the direction of the little arrow on it. The metal part will slide off and will reveal a small stick like key as shown in the picture above.

Video of How to Change Evoque Smart Key Battery + Unlock and Start when Smart Key Battery dies

If you prefer to watch a video instead, then feel free to watch the video below.

How to unlock your Range Rover Evoque manually with a key

You will notice that the driver’s door handle in a Range Rover Evoque does not have a keyhole. This is obviously because of the remote smart key feature that locks and unlocks the car with a press of a button. However, when the smart key dies on us, we need to revert back to the old manual ways.

To unlock your Range Rover Evoque manually, you will need to first remove the plastic cover to reveal the keyhole. To do this, you will need the key blade you have taken off your smart key discussed earlier. 

You will need to find a small hole on the underside of your driver’s door handle. Please refer to the picture above.

You will then need to push the key blade into the hole firmly, and you will notice that the small plastic cover comes off. This will reveal the keyhole for your door.

All you need to do now is insert the actual key blade in the keyhole and turn to open the drivers side door in your Range Rover Evoque,

How to start your Range Rover if your smart key battery dies

Now that you have managed to unlock your Range Rover Evoque without the smart key/fob, let’s find out how you can start the engine too. As you know already, Range Rover Evoques have keyless, push button engine stop/start system. For the push button to work, you may have noticed that you need to have your smart key/fob inside your car, ideally within fairly close proximity of your steering wheel. However, when you smart key/fob battery dies, you will notice that your Range Rover Evoque will not start even though you have the key fob inside the car with you. This is because the smart key fob is unable to transmit the signal to your cars receive remotely now that the battery has died.

But there is a work around for this. If your battery has died, and if you have managed to get inside your car using the key blade manually, then all you have to do to start your car is bring the smart key fob close to the signal receiver in your Range Rover Evoque. This is located just underneath of your steering wheel.

All you have to do is press the smart key/fob close against the underside of your Range Rover Evoque steering wheel, button side down > hold the brake down and press the engine start button. Your car will start instantly. This method works because you are bringing the key fob very close to the receiver so it does not require a battery to power the signal over to it remotely.

How to change your Range Rover Evoque smart key/fob battery

Phew! Now that we’ve learned how to get into your Range Rover Evoque when the key fob battery dies, as well as how to safely start the engine and drive home or to a shop, let’s talk about how to replace the battery and get the key/fob operating again.

This is a fairly straightforward process. 

Step 1: Take the smart key/fob casing apart

To do this, you will again need your trusty key blade/stick. You start by removing the sliding metal part of your smart key.

You then remove the metal key blade off the key fob casing, and look for an opening on one of the edges, same size as the metal key blade as shown in the picture above.

You then insert the key and turn it to push the 2 parts of the casing apart from each other. You will hear a snap when the two pieces come apart slightly. You can then go ahead and pull the two pieces apart. 

Step 2: Changing the battery in your Range Rover Evoque Smart Key/Fob

Once you have taken the key fob casings apart, you will notice a green circuit board with a battery attached to it on one side of the key fob.

Simply slide the battery out from the contacts that hold it in place with a pen or if you have long enough nails carefully. After you take the battery off, please read battery size and specs just to double check the replacement battery you bought is compatible. 

Range Rover Evoque (2011 – 2019) smart key/fobs are powered by  CR2032 battery which is often also referred to as the coin battery. This is a 3v lithium ion battery commonly found in most shops. These batteries are commonly used in low power applications like a computer’s bios (in motherboards) etc

Step 3: Reassemble the smart Key/Fob casing

Once you have replaced the old dead battery with a new one, you can simply go ahead and reassemble the smart key fob casing. To do this, you simply align them together properly and press firmly until you hear a click. You then replace the key blade back inside its brackets and then put the sliding metal casing back on the smart key fob body. 

And you are done.

Last step is to test your Range Rover Smart Key/Fob. It is most likely that your smart key will start working instantly as a dead battery in a Range Rover smart key is one of the most common reasons why they stop working. You will now be able to unlock your Range Rover Evoque with your smart key remotely just like before and also start your car too with a push of the button. 

We hope that you found this post at the right time i.e. your Range Rover Evoque smart key fob stopped working and you didn’t know what to do and you somehow landed on this post. If this was indeed the case, then we really hope that you found this post useful. Please leave a comment below if you have any other tips for our readers. Thank you and speak soon!