We bought a Jaguar I-Tempo for just a few days final week and we have been in a position to take the electrical car on a good highway journey in California. Final yr we took it on a drive via Portugal however that was a closely regulated and scripted journey by Jaguar. How does the I-Tempo work in an actual world, unscripted use case?
Right here I give my ideas on the I-Tempo, which I feel is a shocking electrical car and a primary nice EV for Jaguar, nevertheless it has some points.
Jaguar I-Tempo Design
Let’s begin with the design and type issue of the I-Tempo, which is attention-grabbing for various causes.
Initially, it’s a phenomenal car. Completely gorgeous. The design was rising on me over the few days I used to be driving the automobile and I by no means had so many strangers complimenting me for a automobile earlier than.
When on our highway journey, we even had somebody flagging us down in visitors to inform us how stunning it was.
Jaguar didn’t fall for a similar traps that many established automakers have fallen into when making their first electrical autos.
They didn’t make really feel the necessity to embrace some “electrical design accents” and as a substitute targeted on making an ideal trying automobile that simply occurs to be electrical.
Right here’s the total video evaluate of the Jaguar I-Tempo from our Youtube channel:
Why the Jaguar I-Tempo is just not actually an SUV
As for the shape issue, Jaguar is asking it an SUV, however I can’t actually get on board with that. The one means this automobile appears to be like and drove like an SUV is while you put the suspension on the “off-road” setting and that’s not one thing it is best to do more often than not:
When the suspension is on “regular”, the automobile appears to be like much more like a sedan or a wagon however not precisely. It makes for fairly a novel crossover CUV for my part.
The design is just not the one factor that differentiates the I-Tempo from an SUV.
If you end up driving, it definitely feels extra like a sedan than an SUV because you don’t actually have that peak benefit over different automobiles on the highway. However that’s not a foul factor in any respect.
Additionally, the cargo area, which is 25.3 cubic ft within the trunk and 51 cubic ft with the rear seat down, is just what you’ll count on in a compact SUV and even sedans. There are sedans, just like the Tesla Mannequin S, with extra cargo area than that.
Briefly, it doesn’t have many of the belongings you would count on from an SUV in the present day, however to be truthful, it does have the “sports activities” facet of an SUV…in spades.
Jaguar I-Tempo Driving Expertise
That’s the place the I-Tempo shines the brightest. It’s a enjoyable automobile to drive. So. a lot. enjoyable.
With their first EV, Jaguar managed to make the most of the moment torque of the electrical powertrain and it delivers on an thrilling pedal response.
The dealing with is robust and helped by the decrease middle of gravity due to the battery pack – the car hugs the highway.
I additionally favored the steering responsiveness.
On the freeway, the driving is comfy and … boring, appropriately in a luxurious car.
As for the motive force help options, I wasn’t impressed. I needed to right the steering system frequently and generally it will cease working with out warning aside from the wheel render going grey.
The energetic cruise management was largely working wonderful, however the automobile gave me just a few bizarre entrance collision alerts in cease and go visitors whereas energetic cruise management was enabled, which isn’t what you need out of that.
Jaguar has some work to do right here.
Jaguar I-Tempo Vary, Effectivity, and Charging
Formally, the EPA is itemizing the vary of the I-Tempo at 234 miles on a single cost.
We took the automobile on a highway journey to Anza-Borrego desert state park with a purpose to take a look at the vary and the charging expertise.
In response to Google, it was a 170-mile journey a method, which makes it about 340 miles for the whole journey.
Earlier than leaving, the consumer interface of the I-Tempo was exhibiting between 275 and 280 miles of vary relying on the driving mode:
It appeared extreme to me and positive sufficient, we couldn’t get even near that mark and I don’t assume anybody may with out utilizing some hypermiling methods.
The excellent news is which you could considerably simply recover from 200 miles of vary out of the I-Tempo with regular driving, which goes to be adequate for most individuals.
That mentioned, power consumption was excessive in my expertise. That may have been a bunch of things together with the tires we had.
We have been driving in excellent circumstances and climate and we bought about 400 Wh per mile, which might translate to 224 miles of vary primarily based on 90 kWh capability of the battery pack:
There was some elevation on our means there, nevertheless it wasn’t extreme and we did some recuperation on our means again.
Jaguar’s system gave us some good scores on pace and local weather, nevertheless it appeared to not like our acceleration despite the fact that we solely did one full 0-60 mph launch and some regular speedy accelerations in regular driving conditions.
In the event you add some AC or heating, that will additionally have an effect on the vary.
On our means there and again, we ended up stopping at a EVgo station outdoors of Temecula, which is about half means:
Jaguar claims that the I-Tempo can take “as much as a 100 kW DC cost price”, however we couldn’t take a look at that on the station.
The overwhelming majority of EVgo station are at present restricted to 50 kW. We tried to cost at an Electrify America station simply to check it, nevertheless it turned out that it was additionally restricted to 50 kW and not one of the chargers would even work with the I-Tempo.
First time utilizing an @ElectrifyAm station. I believed I may use the total 100kW fast-charging capability of the @Jaguar I-Tempo, however all chargers have been capped at 50kW. On high of it, nonE of the CCS chargers truly labored with the I-Tempo, a CCS appropriate automobile. pic.twitter.com/LCIfkaYjC4
— Fred Lambert (@FredericLambert) January 14, 2019
On the EVgo charging station, the expertise was pretty clean and it labored effectively for our highway journey.
Though the cost price is gradual for a “fast-charging” station, we would have liked to cease to eat anyway and the cost state was the place we needed it to be by the point we have been executed.
We made it to Anza-Borrego with out a lot vary anxiousness:
That mentioned, it will have been exhausting to place many extra miles on the automobile than that in a single day with out a lot better charging structure and we’re speaking about California, which has probably the most in depth charging infrastructure within the US.
Other than the restricted cost price, the worst factor in regards to the I-Tempo charging expertise is that it seems you may’t get out and in of the car with out stopping the charging session.
The automobile appears to enter some sort of charging mode and getting inside and beginning it, which you’d do to plan your route whereas charging for instance, seems to cease that charging mode. It’s annoying.
As for house charging, the I-Tempo is supplied with a 7.2kW single-phase AC on-board charger for in a single day charging, which might be the primary means most homeowners will cost the automobile.
Jaguar I-Tempo Person Interface
That was the largest draw back of my total expertise with the I-Tempo. The consumer interface is unintuitive and it had a number of bugs.
Jaguar’s navigation system wasn’t nice so we needed to make use of Apple Carplay, nevertheless it wouldn’t work.
Apple Carplay would cease working after 30 seconds or so and the iPhone wasn’t the issue as a result of we tried two totally different ones and the issue continued.
Some apps merely wouldn’t launch after we clicked on them and the middle touchscreen can be very sluggish at instances.
The local weather management interface was effectively designed and labored wonderful, however all the things else was tough to make use of and that’s if it even labored.
Jaguar I-Tempo Conclusion
There’s so much to love in regards to the I-Tempo. I feel it’s one of many best-looking car on the market interval. It’s tremendous quick and responsive and handles like a dream.
The vary goes to be adequate for most individuals, particularly in case you plan to make use of it to get round a metropolis, however I feel it will be exhausting to take the car on a highway journey that requires greater than two full costs at the least till the non-Tesla charging infrastructure with over 100 kW of capability turns into extra in depth.
It’s beginning to be the case in Europe however much less so within the US, and I feel that will likely be mirrored within the gross sales of the I-Tempo – although the US may ultimately meet up with just a few new networks developing.
I feel the I-Tempo would make an ideal household car so long as you aren’t anticipating the area of a full-size SUV.
However that’s all if Jaguar can repair its consumer interface, which was an actual ache to cope with, and hopefully, they’ll use the car’s over-the-air software program functionality to repair a few of that.