Perspective - Aerodynamics In The Classic Jag Look

Perspective

Aerodynamics In The Classic Jag Look

Putting Wayne Burgess Through His Paces

Story | Sabrina Giacomini

The Jaguar I-PACE has been turning heads since its introduction to the market earlier this year. The fullyelectric vehicle marks a new direction for the British automobile manufacturer and its design has come with its share of challenges.

We had the chance to sit down with Jaguar Production Studio Director & SVO Projects Wayne Burgess to discuss just how challenging—and fun—coming up with their very first electric vehicle was.

What single detail was the most challenging in designing your very first electric vehicle?

The biggest challenge, but it was also the biggest design opportunity, was achieving the aero(dynamic) targets for the car because we had to do things very differently. A lot of the aesthetic devices that we normally incorporate in Jaguars make them who they are- sexy blunt shapes.

You know, you look down on an F-TYPE and it has hips and a waist and it has a lovely tapered tail that’s inspired by the series 1 E-Type which is all naturally very beautiful, but unfortunately not great from an aero point of view. It needs to be aerodynamically effcient so we’ve got to find a way of designing the car so it looks like a Jaguar that is very sheer-sided, quite square in plan-from, and has quite sharp corners because we need it for the air and circulation.

That was the aero challenge of bringing Jaguar DNA to it and ultimately having an aesthetic that people still looked at and say “Hey! That looks like a Jaguar.” Like a really modern Jaguar, and it looks very different, but I get it. It’s a Jaguar.” So that, really, from an exterior point of view, was the main challenge.

As we know, not all design ideas make it through to final production. What’s the coolest idea you had that didn’t get greenlit at the aerodynamics or engineering level?

Hum. We’re quite fascinated by active aero. We love the fact that our brand identity is an animal so the notion of having cars that have animated features on them, whether it’s interior or exterior, is very appealing to the design team because we want the car to feel like it’s alive and breathing.

Those shark gill vents at the front of the car are air curtains and though they are static, I think originally we looked at those as being moveable because if you open them out, you sharpen the blunt shape of the car even more and then potentially reduce the drag even more, but it doesn’t look great all the time. If it’s a feature that moves, you can kind of sign up to that as a designer, so that was one of the things that we worked on.

There seems to be a general consensus that working on the I-PACE was fun and almost liberating for the design team because you got to do something so dramatically different. What did you get to do that was different?

The really big fundamental stuff, the whole architecture of the car is like nothing we’ve ever done before. So you know, you remove the engine and the transmission, and the prop shaft, and the transmission tunnel in the car and you can move the windscreen forward, you can extend the cabin, you can move the dashboard, so there’s a notion that you can have a cabin that’s two-thirds the length of the car.

That was really exciting to us. It gives the car a completely unique silhouette. So it was really the big fundamental stuff, the kind of stuff that’s hidden in plain sight if you like. A big deal for us is looking at the silhouette of the car; it’s unique and that’s because it’s electric.

Has working on an electric vehicle changed your perception of car design?

Hum, in some respects yes. I mean, working on an EV has been a really enjoyable process. Because I look after the SVO world as well, I have to look into the highperformance derivatives. Aerodynamics is a massive part of my life in that world as well, so I feel in the last five years I’ve learned as much about aerodynamics as I did in the first twenty years and that’s quite refreshing. I love the idea that aerodynamics can drive aesthetic solutions that you would never have drawn in the first place. They come to you as you try to figure out how to solve some aerodynamic problems.

I think electric vehicles have really focused our minds on that. They’ve given us new silhouettes, new and potential opportunities. From an interior point of view, it’s actually a little tougher. As I remind people, although we’ve moved into electric propulsion, we as human beings haven’t changed so we still need the heater controls, you still need sat and nav, you still need your steering wheel. So you have to provide surfaces in the car to place those controls. But what we realize is that, ok, we’ve vacated all that space by removing the prop shaft and the transmission tunnel, so where the central console now is, we have massive dedicated storage.

Do you think that there’s anything the team has learned working on the I-PACE that might carry over to future designs?

Yeah, I think some of the aerodynamics that we’ve learned on the car and also because it’s delivered quite a modern design language. I see no reason why you couldn’t take that kind of graphic treatment and have it on a gasoline engine car.

What has prompted the decision to make an electric SUV rather than a car?

A couple of things. From a corporate emissions point of view, we get the most CO2 credits by having an SUV zero emissions. There was a little bit of a tactical decision about that. Also, SUVs, because they are naturally taller, lend themselves well to electric architectures because all the mechanicals move down below the floor. That naturally elevates the driver and passengers so an SUV can easily accommodate that as it is already a tall vehicle.

So you’ve got the most opportunity of still delivering the best proportions with an electrical architecture. The other thing is, at the moment, components to electrify a vehicle; the motors, the drive units, the battery packs, it’s expensive technology. I know for a fact the electric components that go into an I-PACE on its own, cost way more than it cost Ford to build a Fiesta. But if you’ve got a more premium position with a mid-size SUV like the I-PACE, you can price it within that bracket segment. It’s the optimal product, right now, for an electric vehicle.

What’s in the future of electric Jaguar?

What I’ve said many times before, I think we are into the decade of transition now where we see the pendulum swinging from internal combustion cars to electric vehicles. I think more and more customers, as it becomes more clearly convenient, will own an electric vehicle. And there are incentives to do it. I think by the end of this decade, you’ll see a hugely increased volume of electric vehicles. For that reason, Jaguar and Land Rover quite rightly as an entire brand, are looking at electrification opportunities across the portfolio.