Jaguar says all-electric I-Pace’s thermal management system adds up to 30 miles of range

Jaguar is trying to maintain the hype around its first all-electric vehicle, the I-Pace, until it hits the market next year.

The British automaker has been teasing the vehicle since unveiling it last year and now, it unveils its thermal management system, which the company claims adds up to 30 miles (50 km) of range.

With internal combustion engines, a lot of the energy potential is lost through heat.

While electric cars have the capacity to be much more efficient on that front, a good thermal management system can also make a significant difference.

Jaguar says that it was inspired by its work on its Formula E race car and that it converted a track-worthy design to extend the range in a road vehicle like the I-Pace:

“Controlling temperature is important for any car, but it is especially important for electric vehicles like I-PACE Concept and Jaguar’s I-TYPE Formula E race car. In racing, effective thermal management means drivers can compete faster and longer out on track. For road cars such as I-PACE Concept, drivers can gain up to 50km more range between charges.”

They release an interesting video with Wolfgang Ziebart, Jaguar’s technical design director, to explain the concept using a heat pump:

Jaguar’s I-Pace is among the most anticipated new EVs to come to market in the next few years.

They unveiled the first prototype at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2016 and the production version should be revealed “by the end of 2017” – likely at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2017. It is slated for production in the “second half of 2018”, according to the automaker. That’s a quick ramp to production – encouraged by the vehicle being well-received when first unveiled.

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”.

We are anxiously anticipating production targets in term of volume and price point, which should be made available at some point between the launch at the end of the year and the start of production in H2 2018.