NEW DELHI: Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Tuesday launched its first electric car in India—the Jaguar I-PACE—at a starting price of Rs 1.6 crore. The launch took place a month after JLR, which is owned by the Tata Group, had announced that all Jaguar models and 60 per cent of Land Rovers sold will be zero-emissions vehicles by 2030.
The I-PACE is powered by a 90 kWh lithium-ion battery delivering 294 kW power and 696 Nm torque, allowing the electric car to accelerate from 0-100 km/hour in just 4.8 seconds. As for the driving range, the I-Pace claims a rage of 470 km/full charge.
Rohit Suri, President & Managing Director, Jaguar Land Rover India (JLRIL) said, “Jaguar I-PACE is the first all-electric SUV that we’ve launched in India and it marks the beginning of our electrification journey. With our electrified products we look forward to playing a significant role in India’s electrification drive into the future.”
To solve charging infrastructure scarcity, the biggest hurdle to India’s EV ambition, the British-brand said that it recently equipped its 22 retail outlets across 19 cities with over 35 EV chargers. These charging units are a combination of 7.4 kW AC and 25 kW DC (fast) chargers.
Customers can access Tata Power’s EZ Charge network of around 200 I-PACE compatible charging points on a use and pay basis. Additionally, JLR’s competetor Mercedes Benz said that I-PACE owners can use its 100 Mercedes-Benz outlets to charge as they remain committed to promote EVs.
Mercedes had launched India’s first luxury EV—the EQC 400—in October 2020 at Rs 99 lakh, while Audi is set to launch the e-tron in the next 2-3 months. The Luxury EV space will also see a big push later this year as Tesla, the world’s largest EV maker, is expected to enter the market.