Development of wheel slip control for ground vehicles with electric powertrain belongs to the one of the most challenging problems in automotive control engineering. The realization of the wheel slip control for anti-lock brake (ABS) and traction control (TC) systems is a more complex task in the case of vehicles designed both for on-road and off-road conditions. In this situation a control strategy must be able to handle different tyre-surface contact dynamics. Within this context, the presented paper introduces the wheel slip control and corresponding ABS algorithm developed for the all-wheel drive sport utility electric vehicle with four individually controlled on-board motors. The proposed paper, in particular, includes: Analysis of state-of-the art solutions for off-road ABS; Description of the developed ABS architecture based on the direct wheel slip control with predictive and reactive wheel torque contributions; Results of ABS operation in the vehicle simulator software with special attention given to the braking on rough surface; Procedure of the system tuning using hardware-in-the-loop technique; Experimental results of the system testing on the vehicle demonstrator in real operational conditions. The theoretical and experimental outcomes have confirmed improved functionality of the developed wheel slip control in terms of vehicle safety and energy efficiency. (C) 2015 ISTVS. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.