Jaguar is unlocking 8% more range in the I-Pace through software update

Jaguar told I-Pace owners that it is going to unlock “up to 8%” more range in their electric vehicles through a software update delivered through the work with their I-Pace-based racing series.

When we tested the Jaguar I-Pace earlier this year, we came out fairly impressed, but we have some important gripes with the vehicles regarding its efficiency and software.

We had hope that the automaker might fix some of those issues through software updates, and sure enough, they are now announcing some significant improvements.

I-Pace owner Malcolm Bird sent Electrek an email he received from Jaguar about a “Range Enhancement Program” for the I-Pace.

Jaguar wrote in the email:

These software enhancements will be provided free of charge and will deliver up to 8% range improvement.

If directly applied to Jaguar I-Pace’s official EPA range of 234 miles, it would result in 252.7 miles of range — not bad for a software update.

Interestingly, the automaker said that the range increase comes, at least partly, from enhancements discovered through their work in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY race series.

They wrote:

Changes to the torque distribution of the permanent all-wheel-drive system will deliver greater efficiency when driving in ECO mode, while refinements to thermal management control will see the active radiator vanes close more often to enhance aerodynamics. The battery will also run to a lower state of charge than previously without affecting drive ability, durability or performance.

Jaguar says that beyond the race series, additional improvements have been derived from real-world data analysis:

In addition to the racing-derived enhancements, analysis of real-world data has enabled us to recalibrate the Regenerative Braking system to harvest energy more efficiently when the battery is in a high state of charge and recover more energy at lower speeds. Changes to the predictive range calculation algorithm will deliver a more accurate and consistent estimate of vehicle range, while being more reflective of an individual’s driving style.

Furthermore, Jaguar says that it has made improvements to the user interface:

Owners of earlier vehicles will receive an updated instrument panel cluster graphics pack which will refresh the appearance of your vehicle’s instrument display.

Finally, the automaker says that the update, which needs to be installed at the dealership, will facilitate future over-the-air software updates, which means that the next time they do have software improvement owners might not have to go to the dealership in order to get them.

Jaguar says that they will send emails and letters to owners in due course.

Electrek’s Take

This is awesome news.

8% doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s going to make a good difference with the I-Pace.

It sounds like they are starting to be more comfortable with having a smaller energy buffer for the battery pack — not unlike what Audi recently announced.

Hopefully, we see more of those and improved software, since that was one of my biggest issues with the I-Pace.

I am glad to see more automakers following Tesla in OTA updates.