Jaguar’s sporty all-electric E-Pace compact SUV reportedly set to debut for sale in 2018

With Jaguar’s recent announcement of their Formula E ‘I-type’ race car and one of their electric ‘F-Pace’ SUV prototypes being spotted in the wild, the UK-based company continues to be in EV news this week, this time with some reports about detailed information on the all-electric compact SUV, unofficially dubbed the ‘E-Pace’, that is now expected to hit the market in 2018.

According to Autocar, the E-Pace, that is predicted to be revealed later this year, is expected to have many internal similarities to the F-Pace (like the spotted all-electric prototype), but the design will most likely be a little bit different with a “lower roof-line and even more dramatic styling.” Further, the all-electric compact SUV looks like it will be based off a former platform by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) that was shown last year.

Some interesting structural implementations that JLR seeks to include will be an aluminium construction and a battery pack that covers the whole floor of the vehicle (much like Tesla’s skateboard platform) that will definitely add increased rigidity upon impact from a crash as well as giving the car a low center of gravity for better handling and a decreased chance of rolling over.

We can only assume that they are planning on going with this type of platform because of its versatility and ease of building different vehicles on top of the same base.

Specifications that have been gathered are listed below:

• All-wheel drive
• Electric Axle Drive (EAD) which will supposedly be cheaper to produce but last 30% longer than conventional designs
• At least a 70 kWh battery pack has been reported in the prototype, but anticipated to be larger in the production car in order to get a max range of around 280-300 miles
• 114 bhp in the front motor (single-speed transmission), 195 bhp in the rear (two-speed gearbox) for a combined 308 bhp.
• No information on if, or to what degree, autonomous driving tech will be in the E-Pace yet

While Jaguar is a bit late in developing and building electric cars, we will continue to welcome any new or existing company that understands the importance in transitioning to electric vehicles.

Featured Image: Jaguar F-Pace, as we do not have an official rendering of the E-Pace, the two should have similar design elements