Electric SUV: First drive with the Jaguar i-Pace

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• The first ride in Jaguar’s Tesla Killer
• The i-Pace is not long, but it is spacious
• Jaguar wants to learn from Formula E.

The first ride in Jaguar’s Tesla Killer

The i-Pace is Jaguar’s first electric car. The electric SUV will celebrate its world premiere on March 1, 2018

Source: Jaguar Land Rover

With the i-Pace, Jaguar will soon be launching an e-car with a range that can make it an alternative to gasoline and diesel vehicles. Our author was on the road with it in Lapland.

E.t is freezing cold up here in Arjeplog. The Swedish winter awaits with minus 13 degrees – usually poison for an electric car. Cold batteries are not particularly efficient batteries, and they also have to provide some of the energy for heating. Steve Boulter just smiles.

He stands in front of the jaguar camouflaged with green and black foil i-Pace, the world premiere of which is due on March 1st. Jaguar’s first electric car, a kind of Tesla killer with a range of 500 kilometers. This statement obviously also applies to winter temperatures, if you correctly interpret the satisfied expression of the engineer. "The batteries produce heat when in use," says Boulter, who is responsible for integrating the entire vehicle, "and they keep the heat over a longer period of time."

He could not give exact dates, but the i-Pace, so it can be heard, could with a weakness of previous electric cars clean up. For example, the heating of the interior is organized by a heat exchanger, which in turn is fed from the waste heat from the batteries. But to be honest: that’s not why we’re here. But for driving.

An electric motor with 200 hp and 350 Newton meters sits on each axle of the Jaguar i-Pace

Source: Jaguar Land Rover

The lakes in Sweden are frozen over until the end of March, some meters thick, and there is practically no car manufacturer that does not do its winter tests up here. Jaguar Land Rover has created its own small village of workshops and office huts over the years. From there it goes slowly towards the lake.

If you don’t do this every day, it’s a strange feeling to drive your car on the ice. Adam Brant is still behind the wheel, who is responsible for the drive system of the first electric Jaguar, and he can feel the amazement of his passenger. “Did you just see the big machines next to the hut?” He asks. That’s right, there were two powerful machines, not dissimilar to excavators. "We’ll use it to clear the snow – these things weigh 25 tons."

Okay, it should be safe out here then. Brant does a lap on the handling course, then vacates the position on the right (it’s an English car, after all). Normally in a new model you first get an overview, look around the interior, touch the dashboard.

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This is only possible to a limited extent in the i-Pace, because the car is camouflaged on the inside as well as on the outside, with large black felt blankets hanging over the things you want to see. At least it is possible to look at the speedometer and charge indicator in front of the steering wheel, all of which are fully digital, of course.

So first step on the gas – and even if there is no more gas flowing here, but electrical energy, one can still hope that at least the beautiful language will remain. In any case, accelerating is worthwhile with the Jaguar i-Pace, because the car is not designed as a waiver, even if it offers a standard range of 500 kilometers. 400 hp and an impressive torque of 700 Newton meters are available to the Jaguar driver here, and as it turns out, there are two special features.

Firstly: As long as not everyone has an electric car, it is welcome to keep mentioning that the maximum torque with this drive technology is basically available immediately, i.e. from a standstill. This fact also makes the i-Pace very much alive, even on ice, because, secondly, it has a smart and at the same time simple all-wheel drive has: There is an electric motor with 200 HP and 350 Newton meters on each axis.

Loading in Lapland: Jaguar has set up its own infrastructure for the test drives

Source: Jaguar Land Rover

You can do that because electric motors are not very big, in the case of the i-Pace they are only 50 centimeters long and have an outer diameter of 23.4 centimeters. With such a compact design, they sit directly on the axles and allow the i-Pace to accelerate to 100 km / h in around four seconds if necessary.

It’s a bit easier on ice, but if the tires lose their grip somewhere, the electric motors at the front or rear are switched on and off in a flash, which at first glance works better than any other clutch or differential system are on the market.

This becomes particularly clear on the large circular path, where there is no risk of nudging the snow limit when oversteering, i.e. when skidding with the stern. "Just keep on the gas," says Adam Brant, "the system even works when the car is more than 90 degrees across."

The i-Pace is not long, but it is spacious

And in fact, it can do what should not actually work – in later comparison drives with Jaguar F-Pace and F-Type, the advantages of the i-Pace become even clearer. And because the batteries are in the underbody, a lower center of gravity of the electric car also improves handling, which remains true even with asphalt instead of ice under the tires.

Chief Designer Ian Callum has opted for a so-called cab-forward design. The passenger cell moves relatively far forward because you don’t need a large combustion engine under the front hood.

The first trip with the Jaguar i-Pace in Lapland

Source: Jaguar Land Rover

At the same time, Callum has the rear slightly in the style of an SUV-Coupes designed so that there is also enough space for the rear passengers. And the luggage in the i-Pace trunk has a volume of 530 liters – the values ​​for the folded back seat have not yet been published.

Of course, the decisive factor for success is not the space for bags and suitcases, but the range. According to the NEDC standard that is still in force today, the i-Pace should be able to travel “over 500 kilometers” with one charge of its 90 kWh batteries, as Jaguar calls it. For fast recharging, 80 percent of the range can be reached after 90 minutes, and the full charge can be restored within another half an hour.

It is not yet possible to say how much electricity the i-Pace actually uses in everyday life. As with all electric vehicles, that depends not only on the driving style of the owner, but also on the quality of the battery management: How exactly do the batteries provide their energy, how do they recuperate, i.e. recover energy when braking and coasting? How does the current flow at full throttle, how does the system react when driving at a steady pace?

Jaguar wants to learn from Formula E.

Jaguar can answer these questions from a racing car, among other things. The manufacturer has been participating in Formula E since 2016 part, where they only finished last, but want to have learned a lot for the production car.

For the 2018/19 season, i.e. for the market launch of the i-Pace, Jaguar has also achieved a special coup: With the i-Pace eTrophy, the first make cup for electric vehicles will be held as part of the Formula E supporting program. 20 participants, all with the same technique, each race lasts 30 minutes.

And after that, the battery is probably pretty exhausted, regardless of whether it is warm or cold.

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