Tesla has basically had the market for electric luxury cars all to itself since it was founded, and I think the new offerings from Jag, and other European makes, spell big trouble for it, just like Danny said here. Watch the video below and see if you don't agree...

 

I agree, the new I Pace is comparable and the interior choices in terms of feel and colors, in my opinion, are more uniform and comfortable than Tesla's. My only issue with the I-Pace when test driving it recently was that it felt a bit more cramped than I'd like.

 

Interesting about the space. When I tested the XF, I remeber being surprised at how tight the back seat was, and it was pretty cozy in my old XJ too ... That said, I can't wait to see how Jag develops its electric vehicle line.

 

IMO, Tesla still has quite the leg up simply because of their Supercharging Network. I can drive from Sacramento to L.A. in a Tesla and know that there are plenty of available supercharging spots along the way to get a full charge in 30 minutes. DC fast charging is considerably slower and the are far fewer available and a higher likelyhood that those few ill already be in use.

 

You are likely talking about the 25 to 40 KW CHAdeMO chargers which don't work with our cars (you can guy an adapter out of China for $1,200 or so but I really don't think it is worth it), the new SAE combo chargers that are plug compatibile with our cars go to 450 KW now. Tesla Superchargers are around 120 KW and plan to go to 240 KW this year. https://www.igyaan.in/163595/bmw-and...kw-ev-charger/

By the way apparenlty Tesla owners like those new chargers (which Telsa has promised to support somehow) so much they have bought up all the new Porache Taycans for 2019: https://www.greencarreports.com/news...-tesla-drivers

And speaking of not having a place to charge, Tesla drivers are having issues as well (though there are laws being passed to stop this bad behavior): https://www.greencarreports.com/news...eing-incidents

Being an early electric driver is going to be increasingly exciting regardless of which electric you buy...

 

The big get with EVs is the actual charger is onboard. It doesn't matter how much juice is going to the plug if the on board charger isn't up to snuff. Tesla has a very efficient one. The jag has a 7 KW charger. Most Teslas (all but shorter range model 3s) have an 11.5 KW charger. This means the Teslas can use the incoming power to its potential, while the Jag can't. The Jag will be limited to about 80Kw at the plug.

I got my EV in December 2015 and have watched the landscape of charging change dramatically. It has gone from chargers being available at airports, Giants games, mall, etc, to all plugs being used all the time, usually by plug in hybrids utilizing the spots as up close reserved parking. I've seen it go from being able to make a long trip and count on a charger being there to knowing I'll have to wait, usually for hours. I've also seen the culture change from one of respect to the typical 'all about me' society. What I mean by that is my workplace has 9 chargers. When I got my EV, there were only 3 cars using them. Over time, this rose to 12 cars, so clearly there needed to be some shuffling. Most people would respect the 4 hour limit and go move their cars at lunchtime so that those who arrived later would be able to take over the EV spots. About a year and a half ago is when I saw it shift to people respecting it to selfish people just parking next to you, unplugging your car and plugging theirs in. Fortunately, my car would 'lock' the charger in place, but one of my coworkers would get alerts at least once a week that he had been unplugged early and sure enough, there would be someone parked next to him that had stolen his plug.

Another issue I noticed is that lack of a standard on which side the plug is on causing issues. My car was on the rights side. His car was on the left. If people who had plugs on the right side got to work first, then we would grab the chargers to our right and he would have to back into a spot. The opposite was true if someone with a left side charger got there first. If someone was not observant, that person would drive straight in and grab the closest plug, basically blocking off one ('m having a hard time describing it, but trust me, it happened and would sometimes orphan one or more plugs.

Long story long, people need to adopt a new mindset with electric cars and the increase of people with EVs is actually making the problem worse. I see EVs like boats. Anyone can buy a boat and drive around on the water. You see new boaters and boat renters screwing it up for everyone else on the water by not understanding the basic etiquette .

I'm very happy to see Jaguar enter the EV market. The more companies that do, the more things will eventually smooth out. VW having to invest a boat load of money into charging infrastructure is a good thing, too.

 

I noticed the plug problem when I pulled up to a CHAdeMO charger before I realized it wouldn't work on the car. There wasn't enough cable to plug into anything but a center plug so even if the charger would have worked the plug couldn't reach my socket. Most of the Level 2 chargers do seem to have enough cable though they are nearly useless on the road given how slow they charge the car. However, one correction, DC chargers bypass the charger in the car and connect direct to the batteries limiting the charge to how much current the system in the car can handle but not limited by the charger. Here is the reference: https://charge.net.nz/faq/what-is-th...d-dc-charging/ The software patch that was done last month supposedly allows us to use up to 150 KW direct chargers at full power, I don't have one near me to try out though. Agree this is all forcing a number of behavior changes, I drive much less aggressively now when I am covering distance. Thankfully most of my driving is under 30 miles round trip and I have 4 cars to choose from, 3 are gas, so this isn’t a huge deal yet but the I-Pace is actually fun to drive long distance so the new faster chargers will help a lot if I can get access to them.

 

I didn't know the DC-fast charger bypassed the on board. That makes sense and has the potential to open things up a bit.

Electric cars are fun and you can make a game out of optimizing consumption and still having a good driving experience. In my own, I was able to. With minor tweaks, I was able to raise my average from 3.5 Miles/KWh to better than 4 Miles.KWh on the freeway and right at 5 Miles/KWh city. It was just little things like going 70 mph instead of 75 and being more of a 'predictive' driver in the city. For giggles, I tried 55 mph on the freeway and was able to drive farther than the range of my car by a good bit. For the most part, though, I started driving less in the fast lane.

One other thing: I learned to charge at every opportunity I could get. While I didn't need to charge every day, life comes along and all of a sudden I'm adding a 50 mile trip to my day. IF the car is always charged, that's less of a concern. In 3 years of charging all the time, I did not see any decrease to my batteries.

 

Agree, when I'm not using my I-Pace it is on the charger if I need it, I don't want to have to worry about it being empty. I have the artificial engine sound turned up to max (even then it is pretty quiet) but it makes it sound a bit like you are driving a turbine engine when you accelerate, and that torque is addictive. For distance I just let the adaptive cruise control and lane keeping tech do its thing. It is also amazing how this thing corners. Dead flat. No noticeable roll at all even when compared to my GLA45 AMG and a ton less than my FX35 Infiniti. Good to know about the batteries, Toyota did a test some years back and found that if you could keep the battery between 10% and 90% degradation was negligible over time. Most current electrics are set up to remain in that range.