Jaguar has a new electric vehicle – but it’s also a very old one. The new Jaguar E-type Zero pairs a car once described by Enzo Ferrari as “the most beautiful” in the world now has a zero emission drivetrain, created by Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works in Coventry, England.
The rebuilt E-type looks the same as the original, but it actually beats its performance with a 0-60mph time of under 5.5 seconds, which is around 1 second better than the gas-powered classic Series 1 version. The other big difference? LED headlights replace the incandescents, as a way of getting more bang for your buck when it comes to that electric power source.
The powertrain can put out 220kW and is tailor-made for the E-type, with a lithium-ion battery pack that has nearly the same physical dimensions as the six-cylinder engine that gave the original car its get-up-and-go. This has another benefit: the original engine can be swapped in with relative ease at any time, should you feel even more nostalgic for the E-type’s racing heyday.
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Driving in real-world conditions, the car can actually manage around 170 miles of range – better than the new Nissan Leaf – and can charge up to full overnight.
It might just be the coolest electric car ever made, but don’t start hoarding your cash just yet, as there are no firm plans to release it. Still, Jaguar Land Rover says it’s going to “investigate bringing this concept to market,” so there is reason to hope.