The last time we discussed luxury sports car brand Jaguar, the auto manufacturer was busy showcasing its hybrid C-X16 concept as well as building a very limited, and uber expensive, run of its C-X75 hybrid supercar.
The company continues to toy with more hybrid technology in its line up, recently unveiling at the Goodwind Festival of Speed in the United Kingdom its XJ_e plug-in hybrid engineering research vehicle.
The XJ_e, as envisioned, brings plug-in hybrid technology to one of Jaguar’s most prolific lines of cars. It was built as part of a strategy to “develop best-in-class low-carbon premium products,” which has also churned out hybrid research demonstrators such as the Range_e from Land Rover, which is Jaguar’s sister brand.
In this research vehicle, Jaguar replaced what was a 5.0-litre V8 engine with a hybrid powertrain consisting of an efficient 2.0-litre turbocharged direct-injection gas engine, hybridized 8-speed automatic transmission, 69 kW motor/generator and a 12.3 kWh lithium Iion battery pack. The goal was to see if this can “deliver similar performance and refinement” while at the same time cutting down on the carbon footprint.
Jaguar’s XJ_e, based upon the hybrid system as outlined, goes from 0 to 62 MPH in 6.5 seconds, with a limited top speed of 150 MPH. It can go 25 miles on electric mode only, and can be fully charged by an external 240V domestic supply in around four hours. The more fuel efficient parallel hybrid design allows the vehicle on a full tank of gas to have a maximum range of 679 miles.
As for carbon emissions, Jaguar says the XJ_e achieves CO2 emissions of less than 75g/km.
Of interesting note related to future green car development by the auto maker is a comment Bob Joyce, Jaguar Land Rover’s engineering director made when the XJ_e concept was unveiled. In stating that customers can “expect some exciting low-carbon products in the future,” he put out there that, at least for the time being, a commitment remains to developing green vehicles. Hopefully they are at least a little less expensive than the C-x75.
