A look at Jaguar’s electrifying crossover

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(March 10, 2018) Jaguar pulled the covers off its I-Pace electric SUV one week before its world debut at Geneva, and the production car is quite close to the concept vehicle introduced in November 2016. At that time, Jaguar talked of 400 hp and 516 lb.-ft. of torque, a dynamic front:rear torque split, torque vectoring, 0-60 mph in about four seconds, and a conservative range estimate of 220 miles.


About the only thing certain was that it would have a 90 kWh lithium-ion battery pack mounted in the floor of an aluminum “skateboard” architecture, and that a full charge would take about two hours at a 50 kW DC public charger.

Now, however, a few things are clearer.

Let’s start with the thing most people ask about when discussing EVs: What’s the range, and how long does it take to charge? Jaguar expects a fully charged I-Pace’s range will be an EPA-estimated 240 miles. Charging time, however, is a bit trickier to deduce. Unlike gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles, where it takes about 10 minutes from the time you drive up to the pump to the time you drive away with a full tank, the answer for an EV depends on what type of charging unit is being used.

Getting that last 20% of charge adds significantly to the charging time, so most manufacturers use the 80% number as a benchmark. In addition, a 15-minute charge at a 100 kW DC fast charger will add 62 miles, while 30 minutes at a somewhat more common 50 kW DC public charging station gets an extra 80 miles of range.



To optimize range, the I-Pace has a battery pre-conditioning system that draws energy from the charging unit in order to add or subtract heat from the battery pack’s liquid cooling circuit in order to ensure optimal range.

Identical 197 horsepower Jaguar-designed electric motors power each axle, giving a total of 394 hp at 4,250 rpm. Since an electric motor produces full torque the instant it starts rotating, there is no single rpm at which it produces full output. Thus, the combined units produce 512 lb.-ft. of torque across the motor’s rpm range. This is enough to accelerate the 4,784 pound SUV from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds, and on to a top speed of 124 mph; though doing that consistently will deplete the available charge rapidly.

Built by Magna Steyr in its Graz, Austria, assembly facility, the I-Pace shares only the final trim line area with its smaller (and internal combustion powered) E-Pace brother.

The body is made of stamped aluminum panels that are welded, bonded and riveted together to form a monocoque to which the battery pack is bolted. (The body is separated from the skateboard by a rubber seal.) This combination, Jaguar claims, results in the highest torsional rigidity ever recorded for a Jaguar production vehicle, and careful placement of the drive units and battery modules give it a 50:50 weight distribution and a center of gravity 5.1 in. lower than Jaguar’s physically larger F-Pace SUV. Those battery modules contain 12 lithium-ion pouch cells each, as well as the piping that carries liquid to the front-mounted water-to-air heat exchanger.

The grille on the I-Pace is more than decorative as it channels air to that cooling unit, and contains active shutters that open and close as needed to optimize both cooling and air flow. A channel located above the grille sends air out a hood-mounted scoop, and speeds it over the windshield to promote smooth laminar flow. The I-Pace has a drag coefficient of 0.29, helped in no small part by the cab-forward design’s long, steeply raked windshield.

The I-Pace has adjustable regenerative braking, which allows “one foot” driving in that, at its maximum level, the regen system gives 0.4 g of braking force without use of the four-wheel disc brakes. Those brakes, it should be noted, have generously sized ventilated discs; 13.8 in. front and 12.8 in. rear, with the front discs clamped by 2.4-in. single-piston sliding calipers and the rears by 1.6-in calipers of the same design. Suspension is by double wishbones in the front and an integral-link independent design in the rear. Air suspension is optional.

Jaguar will offer an 8 year/100,000 mile warranty on the battery pack. It is redeemable in case of manufacturing defect or if its state of health has dropped below 70% during this period. It is unknown what the replacement cost of the battery pack will be, though Jaguar says it will recycle the batteries or use them in backup power applications. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as the largest battery cell recycler in China, and the world for that matter, recently announced that — due to the labor- and environmentally intensive processes used to recycle advanced batteries — it doesn’t make a profit, and may exit the business or raise prices significantly.

Pricing in the U.S. for the I-Pace will be announced March 6, with the expectation that its starting price will be roughly equivalent to the U.K.’s version, minus the 17% VAT. That would be approximately $72,400 before destination charges.

It will be available in three trim levels — S, SE, HSE — with a fully loaded limited production First Edition available during the first model year.

The Virtual Driver