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Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy: Electric cat gets its own racing series

The upcoming Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV is getting its own EV race series, appropriately named the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy.

James Wong

11:1113 September 2017

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As the world's first production battery-electric vehicle racing championship, the I-Pace eTrophy series will be the support event for the FIA Formula E championships from late-2018.

Up to 20 I-Pace race cars will compete in 10 events, hosted in cities like Hong Kong, Paris, Sao Paolo and New York.

"With the launch of the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy we have strengthened our commitment to battery electric vehicles, international motorsport and Formula E," said Gerd Mäuser, chairman for Jaguar Racing.

"As a British team, we are proud to announce today the launch of the world’s first production battery electric vehicle championship."

The race cars themselves will be built by Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations (SVO), in Warwickshire, UK. Based on the production I-Pace, the eTrophy vehicles will have their technical specifications detailed sometime next year.

Additionally, race calendar and costs for prospective I-Pace eTrophy teams will be released in 2018 as well.

The announcement follows Jaguar being the first premium vehicle manufacturer to join the Formula E series (in 2016).

Set to go on sale globally next year, the production version of the Jaguar I-Pace will have a range of around 500 kilometres per charge from its 90kWh lithium-ion battery pack, with the concept version featuring a pair of 147kW/350Nm electric motors (294kW/700Nm combined).

Despite the eco-friendly intentions, Jaguar claims the I-Pace can sprint from 0-100km/h in "around 4.0 seconds".