Swift and sleek, the I-Pace is first among the luxury electric rivals for Tesla

The electric car revolution is about to gather pace in Australia, thanks to the aptly named Jaguar I-Pace. The sleeklooking SUV is the first of a wave of new luxury EVs designed to make life tough for current poster boy Tesla. Later this year Mercedes-Benz will enter the fray with the EQC, then Audi will follow with its e-Tron.

New Jaguar managing director Mark Cameron says beating the German luxury brands to the punch on EVs is “a huge achievement for a brand of our size”. It is also a chance to change perceptions of the brand.

“Look back at the history of when Jaguar has been at its best … it’s been at the forefront of design and technology,” he says. The I-Pace will serve another purpose by encouraging the rollout of charging infrastructure.

“It’s all about us being an accelerator of the acceptance of this type of technology,” he says.

Acceleration is an I-Pace trump card. There’s V8-like urge off the mark and the run from rest to 100km/h takes just 4.8 seconds, thanks to 294kW of power and

696Nm of torque.

More importantly, it claims a range of 470km on a single charge, putting it on par with some petrol SUVs and ahead of