The electric revolution has, until now, passed Jaguar by. Indeed the British company has never produced a production hybrid model, with the stillborn C-X75 supercar concept being the closest it has got so far. Yet it looks likely that we’ll be seeing several electron-fuelled Jags in the brand’s near future, including several without internal-combustion powerplants. The first two obvious candidates for electrification would be the XE sedan and forthcoming F-Pace crossover.
Several of the hints of this future direction have come from within Jaguar Land Rover itself. Although the Land Rover side of the business has introduced production hybrids for non-U.S. markets, Jaguar clearly has struggled to make a case for them based on the smaller number of vehicles it sells. Back in 2009, it was reported that the company would introduce a hybrid version of the current XJ sedan, something that never happened.
Although we’re still predicting hybrid versions, we also think that Jaguar is going to leap straight into pure-electric models, with the broadest hint dropped by the recent unveiling of what was described as Concept_e BEV at a low-carbon-vehicle summit in the U.K. This is a four-wheel-drive, pure-electric platform the company said will work with aluminum-bodied vehicles, with an underfloor battery pack and two electric motors, one at each end. With one making 85 kW at the front and one producing 145 kW at the rear—driving through a two-speed transmission to allow for high-speed cruising—this platform looks ideally suited for life under the F-Pace, which is being launched next year.
The company also has recently announced that it is set to double the size of its engineering and design center in Coventry, England, the base for advanced powertrain engineering and the development of the company’s electric powertrain systems.
The incentives are obvious, with moves by California to increase Zero Emissions Vehicle requirements, as well as a wave of forthcoming ‘zero-emissions zones’ in global cities. Presuming an all-electric F-Pace came with a price tag no greater than that of the Tesla Model X, it’s not hard to see potential buyers being swayed by the crossover’s seductive styling. And as it is built from the same platform ‘matrix’ as the XE and bigger XF sedans, it’s not hard to see the benefits of sharing hardware with those cars.
We ran our theory past a Jaguar spokesman who, predictably, refused to confirm anything, but did say that he “didn’t recognize” reports that an electric F-Pace would carry the moderately predictable E-Pace name. Which is why we’re freely donating our alternative: Electrokitty.
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