As we reported last week, Jaguar brought two I-Pace prototypes at the Los Angeles Auto Show – a year after first unveiling the vehicle at the same show.
Now Jaguar elaborates on its test program and reveals that it currently operates “more than 200 production prototypes” ahead of its launch next year.
Ian Hoban, Jaguar Vehicle Line Director, said:
“After 1.5 million global test miles, the I-PACE is ready for production and is proven to deliver long distances on a single charge. Jaguar’s first battery electric vehicle will also be fast to charge; our target is a zero to 80 percent charge being achievable in a short break.”
That fast-charging is still based on a 50 kW charger, according to a press release.
The British automaker confirmed that “thousands of potential customers” expressed interest in their first all-electric vehicle by pressing the ‘I want one’ button on their website.
They invited a few of those people to join Jaguar’s engineers on test drives of their prototype vehicles.
Ann Voyer from Pasadena, California was the first lucky potential customer to be brought along on one of those rides.
She wanted to know if the I-PACE would have enough range to complete her favorite road trip along California’s West Coast from Los Angeles’ Sunset Boulevard to Central California’s Morro Bay.
They produced a video about it:
As we previously reported, the I-PACE is a sport SUV equipped with a 90 kWh battery pack with a range of “over 500 km” NEDC-rated. Interestingly, the automaker has now confirmed “a targeted range of approximately 220 miles on EPA test cycles”.
It apparently easily completed to 200-mile (322 km) road trip.
Electrek’s Take
We are pretty excited about the I-Pace for a few reasons.
First off, it just looks like a nice car that happens to be all-electric. Secondly, Jaguar has been hinting at the fact that it could actually be somewhat reasonably priced, which could make a significant impact on the industry if it’s really the case.
The main bummer is that Jaguar keeps only referring to 50 kW DC fast-charging, which is the current standard, but not what you would expect from a new electric vehicle coming out in 2018.
Hopefully, they are only referring to the speed when charging at charging stations capped at 50 kW and that it is not the actual charging capacity of the car.
We should know more in a few months when Jaguar unveils the production version and opens its order book.
The vehicle is then expected to enter production in the second half of 2018, which is another reason why we are excited for the I-Pace: it’s going to be one of the first of a series of new electric vehicles built to be electric from the ground up coming from legacy automakers.
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