Jaguar I-Pace; the award-winning British EV

With the I-PACE, Jaguar proved that it can build not only refined SUVs, but also make a strong mark in the zero-emission segment. The Jaguar I-PACE won the European Car of the Year title in 2019 and to this day is often held up as a model for the electric car of the future.

European Car of the Year 2019 and media verdicts

In 2019 the journalists who choose the European Car of the Year, known as COTY, awarded the car 250 points. They highlighted its appeal and its practicality in everyday use, and drew attention to the power and torque of its electric motors. The Jaguar I-PACE was only the second electric car in history to become COTY. The first was the Nissan LEAF.

Some of the opinions voiced by the media who tested the car at the time still hold true: "as the first BEV of its kind, the I-PACE showed what an electric car can really do", they wrote, adding that it is "a very refined car that offers calm, fully relaxed driving and incredible thrills when you push it hard". Others praised the four-wheel drive: "the I-PACE handles corners well on the track and copes with rough terrain too, thanks to its effective all-wheel drive". They also noted a major asset of most electric cars, namely the way the heavy batteries stabilise the car: "a low centre of gravity and powerful electric motors make the I-Pace handle better than most conventional cars". The car's innovation was emphasised in comparison with its German rivals, so often held up as the model to follow in the upper segments: "this is Jaguar at its best, not trying to follow the German premium brands". In the end, the British "cat" was judged the most innovative vehicle of all the COTY finalists. Even so, some of the jurors pointed to the high price and to a range that could drop significantly when the car's full potential was used.

Innovations and cab-forward design

The Jaguar I-Pace has several innovative features. It deserves a big round of applause for the extra storage space for cables at the front of the car; the cables will never be crushed under luggage and will never get it dirty. This solution explains the unusual button layout on the key fob, as you can remotely open both the front and the rear luggage compartment. Another innovation, borrowed from its Range Rover sibling, is the ability to raise and lower the body. This improves its off-road capability and also lowers the body during fast motorway driving.

The car's styling also deserves a mention, in particular the so-called "cab forward design", in which the bonnet was shortened considerably and the passenger cabin moved forward. It was a pioneering solution at the time, since few manufacturers had gone for it, somehow forgetting that a compact electric motor and its ancillaries (there is no gearbox) take up far less space than in a combustion-engined car. This design, with short overhangs and a coupé-style roofline, turns heads in the street, but it also provides an astonishing amount of space in the cabin and the boot. Jaguar opted for pop-out door handles, which retract while driving to further reduce wind noise and drag.

Driving modes, range and charging

The car offers several driving modes:

"Eco", in which the accelerator is less responsive and the air conditioning works less hard. "Ice & Snow" provides better traction when pulling away by restricting the power delivered to the wheels. "Dynamic", as the name suggests, gives a dynamic response when you press the accelerator and, interestingly, also generates the deep sound of a combustion engine, which comes out of the speakers.

The Jaguar I-PACE is 4.68 m long and comes only as a 400 hp (700Nm) version with a 90 kWh battery. When it was launched, only the largest Tesla models could rival it in terms of battery capacity, and it is still one of the best figures on the market. The I‑PACE is driven by two electric motors integrated with the front and rear axles. Its declared homologated range is 470 km. Thanks to four-wheel drive, the I‑PACE stays stable as it accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 4.8 seconds.

The interior is interestingly designed and made from the highest-quality materials. Not everyone will like the way you switch between drive modes with buttons, though - in a car with this kind of performance, a gear selector lever would have been a better choice.

When the car was launched, there were some problems. The software running the electrical systems did not always work flawlessly. The faults and shortcomings were ironed out a few months later, when a version with a "mini facelift" was introduced. At the same time, the specification of the on-board charger was changed so that it could accept 11kW instead of the previous 7kW. This considerably speeds up AC charging.

Jaguar I-Pace - summary

The Jaguar I-PACE is one of the most luxurious zero-emission SUVs on the market. It offers stunning performance, a long range and plenty of innovative design and technology features. It is an electric car that will keep turning heads for a long time to come.