Times certainly are a-changing in the car industry. The idea of an electric E-Type would have been fantastical (or downright sacrilegious) even a decade ago - now it is considered enticing enough, off the back of the 'Zero' concept, to be brought into limited production. Or conversion, at any rate; Jaguar having made the decision to offer the transformation to anyone who fancies the idea of having one of England's quintessential sports cars powered by the electric hardware from an I-Pace.
If an angrily worded letter to Gaydon is already forming in your head, it's worth pointing out at this point that the conversion would be fully reversible (although presumably not free or easy). So it's conceivable that you could treat the zero-emission overhaul as a temporary thing. But we'd imagine it's more likely to happen to cars that spend their lives in city centres - and arguably it's better than simply parking the thing up in a basement, collecting dust.
Truth be told, Jaguar Classic, the division actually responsible for performing the conversions, is a little light on the details at the moment because, it's still finalising the hardware. But certainly much of the tech will be carried over from the I-Pace, which ought to make for a usable range. Last year's E-type Zero concept used a 40kWh battery which could be recharged in six to seven hours (depending on the power source) providing the car with sufficient energy to travel about 170 miles.
Jaguar claims that the new components have been matched to the E-Type so the car’s weight distribution and handling are unaffected. Its lithium-ion battery pack is the same size and a similar weight to the E-type’s six-cylinder petrol engine (so presumably it’s lighter than the V12 version) and is located in the same spot – under that voluptuous bonnet. Behind the battery is the electric motor in place of the original gearbox, which drives through a new propshaft sending power rearwards via a carry-over differential and final drive.
This near identical weight layout has prevented the need for modifications to the car’s structure, brakes and suspension, leaving the electric Jag to handle as it did when endowed with a silky, XK-sourced petrol motor - while also being slightly quicker. It also keeps retains most of the car's original fixtures and fittings - unless you fancy the idea of a new dashboard fascia with the manufacturer's latest infotainment screen. This remains an option though, so owners wanting to retain the vintage cabin with their silent propulsion certainly can.
There’s no word yet on how much the conversion will actually cost, but given that this is an inside job that will come with the Jag stamp of approval on a model that’s regularly valued at more than 100 grand, we suspect it’ll amount to a lot. Where best to launch a pricey new product based on a classic car? Well, it’s August, so naturally Jaguar has chosen the Monterey Car Week in California, where it is showing the concept version to the sort of affluent people who may have a spare E-Type to convert.
1 / 5
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)