Jaguar leads the pack
NeVer mind watching future electric cars being unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this week. I was among the first to drive one — Jaguar’s Tesla challenger, the I-Pace. I took it out on a slippery track a short distance from the show hall — and it’s great fun. It’s stylish, but would fit well in any family driveway. I’m not sure why I was surprised, but it drives like a Jaguar, too, though running entirely on electric power, it lacks the traditional roar. but it still feels taut and fast.
And it accelerates like lightning, hitting 60mph from rest in just 4.5 seconds.
but I wasn’t just going in straight lines. I was throwing it around in the rain with abandon on an automotive assault course of tight turns and even a stint on a skid pan, as well as doing a fair few manoeuvres of my own.
It’s sure-footed and fun with a top speed of 124mph. Yet it still promises a range of 298 miles — or just enough battery charge to drive from london to Newcastle — on one overnight charge.
Priced from £58,995 to £76,995, which includes a taxpayer subsidy of £4,500, it’s available to order now in four trim levels: S, Se, hSe and a top of the range First edition launch model.
Deliveries are set for July, when the first models also reach showrooms. but customers can order and ‘configure’ their cars online now at jaguar.co.uk
Two Jaguar-designed electric motors — one at each axle — develop a total of 400 bhp — that’s about four Ford Fiestas.
Providing the power is a hightech 90kWh lithium-ion battery that sits centrally and low between the axles, to give perfect 50:50 weight distribution. Jaguar says owners will be able to achieve an 80 per cent charge in 85 minutes using a 50kW DC charger. A 30-minute charge will give a range of about 80 miles.
A fast charge will power the battery to 80 per cent capacity in just 45 minutes.
home charging overnight achieves 80 per cent power in just over ten hours, while a full charge will take 12.9 hours.
Jaguar has pipped Audi, and a host of other rivals, to the post.