Well-heeled South Africans are set to get another electric car choice, with global CEO Dr Ralf Speth having confirmed that the I-Pace will reach our market by 2019.
Likely to be revealed in production guise at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show, the I-Pace will be Jaguar’s first fully electric vehicle, and its maker is promising a “useable” range of up to 500km on a single charge.
The showroom vehicle is expected to follow the concept in offering maximum outputs in the region of 295kW and 700Nm, with one electric motor mounted on each axle for all-wheel-drive capability.
Dr Speth was speaking at a recent event in Johannesburg where it was announced that Jaguar’s dealers would undergo extensive upgrades, which would include the provision of electric infrastructure. Jaguar SA said that all of its dealers would be capable of servicing the new battery-powered SUV.
Jaguar Land Rover SA’s MD Richard Gouverneur also confirmed that the company was working with the Electric Vehicle Industry Association (EVIA) in pushing for lower taxes on battery cars and in putting shared charging infrastructure in place in public areas.
However, unless these vehicles are charged using cleaner energy sources such as solar power, one could not, strictly speaking, refer to them as zero emissions vehicles as they would be indirectly powered by coal. Just saying.