Jaguar I-Pace ‘Climbs Everest’ to demonstrate EV regenerative braking benefits

Jaguar takes the electric I-Pace up Great Dun Fell 16.2 times to the height of Everest on a single charge to demonstrate regenerative braking benefits.

Apparently, during the Covid pandemic, something called ‘Everesting’ became a thing for endurance cyclists, repeatedly climbing and descending steep inclines until they clocked up the equivalent of ascending Mount Everest to the peak. Who new?

Well, we didn’t but Jaguar certainly did, so they decide to take the I-Pace off to Great Dun Fell – the UK’s highest paved road – to see what a fully-charged I-Pace could manage. And to keep the challenge cyclist-focussed they stuck Olympic and World champion cyclist Elinor Barker behind the wheel.

Great Dun Fell is something of a challenge, climbing 547m from the start point Jaguar used, with sweeping bends and gradients up to 20 per cent and, you would think, enough to muller the I-Pace’s range.

In the end, the I-Pace completed 16.2 round trips for a total mileage of 116 on the climb and descent plus eight miles getting to the start point. And it still had 31 per cent of its charge left, enough for another 80 miles.

That sounds a bit too good to be true but, and clearly the point of the challenge, the I-Pace’s regenerative braking delivered around 60 per cent of additional energy on the descents, in great part mitigating the additional energy cost of the climbs.

Jack Lambert, Jaguar Racing Engineer, said:

The advanced regenerative braking system developed for the I-PACE is a defining feature of the driving experience. Lessons learned through our Formula E programme on the track ensure I-PACE customers enjoy benefits on the road in terms of optimised range. The regenerative braking also provides up to 0.4g of deceleration so Elinor would only have been using the conventional friction brakes at two or three points on each run.