Jaguar race-derived enhancements enhance production car performance

Jaguar engineers have applied advanced technical insights from the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY race series to optimise the management of battery, thermal and AWD systems to enhance the efficiency of the all-electric powertrain.

Last year, Jaguar established the I-PACE eTROPHY series – the world’s first all-electric production based international race series – reinforcing its commitment to electric racing while leveraging technical expertise to develop future electric road cars as part of its ‘Race to Innovate’ mission. The series puts the all-electric SUV through extreme use conditions and the first competitive season yielded critical learnings for the durability and thermal control of the battery and torque management systems.

In a continual quest to enhance customer experience, Jaguar engineers have also analysed data from more than 50 million miles of real-world journeys from all corners of the world. Every element of the vehicle’s performance is scrutinised to leverage the optimum performance of the systems and maximise efficiency.

“The Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY has generated a huge amount of data for us to analyse and those marginal gains, derived from competition on the track, are now being applied to customers’ cars to further enhance their driving experience,” says Stephen Boulter, I-PACE Vehicle Engineering Manager. “The new software updates optimise the powertrain control systems to improve efficiency and allow I-PACE drivers to travel even further on a single charge without any hardware changes – it really is a case of the vehicle getting better with age.”

The all-wheel drive I-PACE is Jaguar’s first full battery-electric vehicle and has a range of up to 292 miles from a single charge of its 90 kWh lithium-ion battery (WLTP cycle). While the new software upgrade does not change the official certified range figure, the marginal gains developed from eTROPHY analysis will give customers access to an improvement of up to eight per cent dependent on usage – equating to a potential extra 12 miles of real-world range.

The changes derived from the eTROPHY race series include All-Wheel Drive: Changes to the torque distribution between the front and rear motors will deliver greater efficiency when driving in ECO mode – the system still delivers permanent AWD traction.

Temperature control: Refinements to thermal management control will make greater use of the active radiator vane system, closing the vanes more frequently to enhance aerodynamic performance more of the time.

Battery Capacity: Updates allow the battery to run to a lower state of charge than previously without affecting driveability, durability or performance.

Additional changes derived from real-world data analysis include Regenerative Braking: the vehicle’s brakes will harvest energy more efficiently when the battery is in a high state of charge and the amount of energy recovery has been increased at lower driving speeds to maximise efficiency and range.

Range calculation: Changes to the predictive range calculation algorithm will deliver a more accurate and consistent estimate of vehicle range, while being more reflective of an individual’s driving style.

Customers are being invited to take vehicles to their Jaguar Retailer to receive the complimentary update. The wide-ranging changes will also enable enhanced Software-Over-The-Air (SOTA) functionality. After receiving the latest software, more electronic modules will be able to receive remote updates, providing ongoing enhancements to the customer experience.