Flybe / July 18

Take-off / Motoring

Flight Time

JULY 2018

Every new car is lauded by its maker as

being a breakthrough – the next best

thing since the last best thing was the

next best thing. But the new Jaguar

I-Pace, just on sale, is genuinely one

of those once-in-a-generation cars,

maybe even a once-in-a-lifetime car.

It’s the first all-electric product

from a premium European brand, and

its breadth of capabilities – on and

off-road (our Portuguese test drive

included wading along a river bed

and climbing a mountain) – throws off

many of the known Electric Vehicle

(EV) shortcomings of old. It will, for

example, travel almost 300 miles on

a single charge, comparable to the

range of a conventional petrol car on

a tank of fuel.

Charging, on a public 50kw charger,

to 80% of its capacity will take 85 minutes,

but by the time first deliveries take place

any day now upgraded 100kw chargers

will be in place, reducing that to just 45

minutes. Or about as long as a coffee

and a comfort break.

The I-Pace has an electric motor

on each axle, which means four-

Jaguar I-Pace

90kWh battery,

394bhp,

513lb/ft torque,

0-62mph in 4.5

seconds,

top speed

124mph,

298-mile range,

0g/km CO2.

From £63,495

(£58,995 after

Government

grant).

www.jaguar.co.uk

Jaguar I-Pace

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE : SUV SPACE ,

SUPERCAR PACE , OFF - ROAD I NG GRACE .

OH , AND ZERO EMI SS IONS

wheel-drive, for optimum traction,

acceleration and performance. And

since we’ve mentioned performance,

consider this – the car will hit 60mph

from standstill in just 4.5 seconds, which

is Ferrari fast.

The interior is a light and lovely

place to be, especially with the

optional sports seats lifted from the

Jaguar F-Type and when specified

with the full-length glass roof. And,

since a lot of conventional hardware

is no longer needed (no engine, no

gearbox, no transmission tunnel),

there’s more space than a Porsche

Cayenne, a hefty, regular old-school

4x4, but within the footprint of a car a

size down. Five can go anywhere in

comfort, as Enid Blyton might have said.

The exterior, meanwhile, is one

sharp suit of clothes – identifiably

Jaguar, but cut from 21st-century

cloth. Designer Ian Callum points to

echoes of the ‘cab forward’ CX-75

supercar concept, and talks of the

I-Pace being one of the most exciting

projects of his stellar career. “From a

design perspective we were able to

do almost anything we wanted, free of

constraints to house all the usual metal.

With the battery packs housed within

the floorplan we start, essentially,

with a skateboard, and can push the

wheels to the corners for the benefit of

both styling and accommodation. It’s

as clean a sheet of paper as you could

ever hope for.”

To drive, the I-Pace is both

reassuringly normal and yet

simultaneously quite different. The

primary controls are light, throttle

response is instant, progress is Rolls-

Royce silent and – should you wish

– absurdly swift. The battery weight

beneath delivers a low centre of

gravity in a fairly tall car, which is

reassuring, and so when pressing on

the car feels planted and is blessed

with both grip and composure.

Prices start at £63,495 before a

Government contribution of £4,500

drops that to £58,995. That’s cheaper

than an equivalent Tesla by a healthy

margin, is the product of a major

premium car brand with a big dealer

network and there’ll be no more trips

to the fuel pumps and the Wild Bean

Café, no more road tax, no congestion

charges and service intervals that

are two years apart. The battery

technology has an eight-year warranty.

Welcome to a greener future.

It works.

“The primary controls

are light, throttle

response is instant,

progress is Rolls-Royce

silent and – should you

wish – absurdly swift”