JAGUAR I-PACE
Jaguar pounces claws-out into the electric car market with the exciting new I-Pace.
One of the most spectacular cars we’ve seen released in 2018 is this – the Jaguar I-Pace. This is Jaguar’s first ever electric car – a five-door SUV with a distinctive exterior design largely unchanged from the concept car first shown in 2016. Yes, the it has a sensible SUV body style with a sensible 5-door layout, but the I-Pace has hidden depth to it.
It’s powered by 2 separate electric motors – one on each axel – which means that it’s all-wheel drive. Its 600kg of batteries that are linked to those motors produce just shy of 400bhp, giving this a 0-62mph time of 4.5-seconds. That’s faster than some Porsche 911 models…
Jaguar has also worked to ensure that the new I-Pace has 50/50 weight distribution, optimising the handling balance and making sure that the feel of the car matches the potential speed. The array of batteries are mounted as low as possible within the car, so there’s no sensation of the I-Pace feeling top-heavy and Jaguar has made sure the driver has a excellent driving position to really give that sporty feel.
So, what about the sensible stuff? Well, Jaguar claims that the I-Pace can do around 298-miles on a single charge. As current electric car ranges go, this is pretty impressive and the actual charging times aren’t too bad either – from a 50kw charger you’ll get well over 50% battery charged in around an hour which will be plenty for covering most journeys. If you’re going to plug it into the wall at home using the old 3-point plug, you’ll need more than a day to get that battery up to 100%.
Inside the new I-Pace Jaguar has done a tremendous job of combining design with quality to give you a space worthy of the brand. It’s unmistakably Jaguar, but a Jaguar looking towards the future. The centre of the dashboard is dominated by the widescreen in which the infotainment system sits, from which you can control all the major functions of the I-Pace and its numerous features. Quality materials are used throughout, giving the cabin the premium feel expected of the Jaguar name.
It’s no wonder that there’s a lot of excitement surrounding the new Jaguar I-Pace, it has all the electric-car benefits with little sacrifice needing to be made in the way of quality and driving dynamics. If this is the future of motoring, the future looks very bright indeed.