MOTORING
PLATIN UM
JAGUAR I-PACE By Maarten Hoffmann, Senior Motoring Editor
This model is Jaguar’s first move into the electric vehicle (EV) market and a bold one at that; the first mainstream manufacturer to produce a competent full EV, launched in 2018. Before that date, only the Silicon Valley Tesla and German BMW were really bothered about it, but with increasing government legislation coming forward, along with the consumers’ rising awareness of climate change, they are now all very expensive – and the less expensive, have a range to the corner shop and back. After incremental updates over the years, the I-Pace uses two concentric
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electric motors, one on each axle for permanent four-wheel drive, producing 395bhp and 513lb ft of torque, delivered through a single-speed gearbox. The lithium-ion battery, placed under the floor is sized at 90kWh, good for a claimed 286-mile range on the WLTP cycle. Give it the beans and 0–60mph in 4.5 seconds and a 124mph top speed is rapid by any measure.
Charging and range anxiety persist – with a standard 100kW public charger, you can pump 78 miles in 15 minutes. Use a home charger and you will get 33 miles per hour. The anxiety can raise its ugly head when you consider that the range quoted is about as accurate as the fuel consumption figures of old – they lie. Give it to your granny and send her on a smooth B-road with no traffic and Burt Bacharach playing and you might get somewhere close, but in the real world, you will never get the quoted range. The I-Pace offered me 224 miles which is not half bad, but not what is quoted. That is really 112 mls if you actually want to get home again of course and outside of that you will need a public charger. But remember, this is just a car that has to be comfortable, go fast, stop fast, get
