Jaguar F-Pace plug-in hybrid coming in 2017

Amid all the excitement, and shock, over Jaguar's announcement of its EV performance SUV, the I-Pace, the company has let slip that it won't actually be the first electrified Jaguar that comes to market, with a plug-in hybrid set to launch next year.

The company's "electrification guru", Dr Wolfgang Ziebart, who previously worked on the batteries for the first Apple iPhones, was asked by Drive whether, having made its unprecedented shift to full EV, it would also consider PHEV platforms.

"It's not an alternative, it's an 'as well as' situation, so we will have plug-in hybrids very soon, even, I think ahead of the Electric Vehicle," Dr Ziebart revealed at the LA Auto Show, before being cut off by a panicked-looking colleague.

"We'll go with 'soon' - yes, we will be rolling out plug-in hybrids," came the clarification.

Other hints dropped by Jag about the need for PHEVs rather than full EVs in some markets make it seem likely we'll see a plug-in hybrid, probably of the company's biggest-selling F-Pace SUV, as soon as next year, because the I-Pace, a virtually production-ready concept, will hit the road in early 2018.

Jaguar was willing to confirm that "by 2020, half of all Jaguar Land Rover models will have the option of electrification; either full EV, plug-in or mild hybrid".

A full EV Land Rover product can't be far away, either, and JLR has confirmed it could sit on the same platform as the spectacular new Jaguar. "In theory, the platform is very flexible, you can expand it or contract it, you can use different motors," Dr Ziebart said.

The I-Pace has two motors, one on each axle, making a combined 300kW and 700Nm and providing a swift 0 to 100km/h time of around four seconds.

Top speed, however, even on German autobahns, is not a figure that will greatly concern EV buyers, according to Dr Ziebart.

"What we see from how electric-car customers behave, people seldom drive faster than 130km/h, because they see the range deteriorating quickly, so maybe 150 or 160, but any top speed above that, in real life nobody will use it," he explained.

Driven more carefully, the I-Pace is claimed to offer a range of 500km.

Jaguar is clearly gambling big time on its projections that the rest of the world will soon follow the rapid take-up of EVs that is already taking place in California, which makes up around half of all EV sales in the US.

So how quickly does Dr Ziebart believe the change will happen?

"My personal prediction is that by 2025 the share of new car registrations that are EVs will be around 20 per cent, at least in the major markets; Europe, the US and China," he said.

"In China there's a massive push from the government  towards electric vehicles, for two reasons; to get independence from oil, but second to reduce pollution in the cities.

"We think a car like I-Pace will considerably help the government to reach their goals in terms of electrification. I think it's very appealing because the range is quite high (Jaguar claims more than 500km), so you don't have to depend so much on charging infrastructure."

Dr Ziebart also predicted inductive charging, where you simply park your car over a charging plate in your garage - or at the local shops - with no plugging in required, would be the way of the future.

"Inductive charging is going to come and you can expect that we will not lag behind the competition when it comes to this," he said.

"You will have one coil in a fixed plate in the floor and one in the car, and these two will match and there will be energy transfer between the two."

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