Electric Jaguar SUV To Be Unveiled This Year; May Be Dubbed E-Pace

Jaguar’s much-rumored all-electric SUV has been given the green light for production and is expected to be revealed later this year.

Autocar claims that Jaguar Land Rover has given the thumbs up for the model to hit the market in 2018 as the company’s first fully electric vehicle. It is thought that the design of the model has also been approved and that it could also use the E-Pace nameplate.

Underpinning the Jaguar E-Pace will be the EV platform the automaker revealed a year ago with a special derivative of the Range Rover Evoque. While it isn’t known if the same powertrain will be used without any significant changes, the E-Pace is expected to debut with a battery pack larger than 70 kWh in capacity, providing a range of between 280 and 300 miles (450-482 km).

Drive is tipped to come from two electric motors, one powering the front axle and the other driving the rear. The front motor may develop in the region of 114 hp while the unit at the rear will be slightly more powerful delivering around 195 hp.

While those figures won’t make the E-Pace a Tesla Model X beater, they implementation of two electric motors will allow the model to have similar sporting characteristics to the larger F-Pace. This will be because of the drivetrain’s torque vectoring system and its ability to shift power between the front and rear axles.

Expect to learn more about the car in the coming weeks.

Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops