We received a Jaguar I-Tempo for just a few days final week and we have been in a position to take the electrical car on an honest street journey in California. Final 12 months we took it on a drive by means of 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 believe is a surprising 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 kind issue of the I-Tempo, which is fascinating for various causes.
To begin with, it’s a wonderful 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 street journey, we even had somebody flagging us down in site 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 automobiles.
They didn’t make really feel the necessity to embody some “electrical design accents” and as a substitute targeted on making a terrific 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 manner this automobile seems to be and drove like an SUV is if you put the suspension on the “off-road” setting and that’s not one thing you must do more often than not:
When the suspension is on “regular”, the automobile seems to be much more like a sedan or a wagon however not precisely. It makes for fairly a singular crossover CUV in my view.
The design is just not the one factor that differentiates the I-Tempo from an SUV.
When you find yourself driving, it actually feels extra like a sedan than an SUV because you don’t actually have that top benefit over different automobiles on the street. However that’s not a nasty 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 simply what you’d count on in a compact SUV and even sedans. There are sedans, just like the Tesla Mannequin S, with extra cargo area than that.
In brief, it doesn’t have many of the stuff you would count on from an SUV immediately, however to be truthful, it does have the “sports activities” side 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 benefit from 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 street.
I additionally appreciated the steering responsiveness.
On the freeway, the driving is snug and … boring, appropriately in a luxurious car.
As for the motive force help options, I wasn’t impressed. I needed to appropriate the steering system usually and generally it will cease working with out warning aside from the wheel render going grey.
The energetic cruise management was principally working superb, however the automobile gave me just a few bizarre entrance collision alerts in cease and go site 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 street journey to Anza-Borrego desert state park with a view to take a look at the vary and the charging expertise.
In keeping with Google, it was a 170-mile journey a method, which makes it about 340 miles for the entire journey.
Earlier than leaving, the person 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 certain sufficient, we couldn’t get even near that mark and I don’t suppose anybody might 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 good circumstances and climate and we received about 400 Wh per mile, which might translate to 224 miles of vary based mostly on 90 kWh capability of the battery pack:
There was some elevation on our manner there, nevertheless it wasn’t extreme and we did some recuperation on our manner again.
Jaguar’s system gave us some good scores on pace and local weather, nevertheless it appeared to not like our acceleration though we solely did one full 0-60 mph launch and some regular fast 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 manner there and again, we ended up stopping at a EVgo station exterior of Temecula, which is about half manner:
Jaguar claims that the I-Tempo can take “as much as a 100 kW DC cost fee”, however we couldn’t take a look at that on the station.
The overwhelming majority of EVgo station are presently 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 might 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 suitable automobile. pic.twitter.com/LCIfkaYjC4
— Fred Lambert (@FredericLambert) January 14, 2019
On the EVgo charging station, the expertise was pretty easy and it labored effectively for our street journey.
Though the cost fee 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 performed.
We made it to Anza-Borrego with out a lot vary anxiousness:
That mentioned, it will have been onerous 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 intensive charging infrastructure within the US.
Apart from the restricted cost fee, the worst factor in regards to the I-Tempo charging expertise is that it seems you possibly can’t get out and in of the car with out stopping the charging session.
The automobile appears to enter some type 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 provided with a 7.2kW single-phase AC on-board charger for in a single day charging, which might be the principle manner most homeowners will cost the automobile.
Jaguar I-Tempo Person Interface
That was the most important draw back of my complete expertise with the I-Tempo. The person 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 completely different ones and the issue endured.
Some apps merely wouldn’t launch once we clicked on them and the middle touchscreen could be very sluggish at occasions.
The local weather management interface was effectively designed and labored superb, however all the pieces else was troublesome to make use of and that’s if it even labored.
Jaguar I-Tempo Conclusion
There’s lots to love in regards to the I-Tempo. I believe 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 for those who plan to make use of it to get round a metropolis, however I believe it will be onerous to take the car on a street 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 intensive.
It’s beginning to be the case in Europe however much less so within the US, and I believe that can be mirrored within the gross sales of the I-Tempo – although the US might finally meet up with just a few new networks developing.
I believe the I-Tempo would make a terrific 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 person interface, which was an actual ache to take care of, and hopefully, they’ll use the car’s over-the-air software program functionality to repair a few of that.
