Three-time tennis Grand Slam champion Andy Murray has become one of the first owners of Jaguar Land Rover’s all-electric I-PACE SUV, making good on his Earth Hour promise to switch to electric driving.
The silver-grey I-PACE was delivered to Murray on Tuesday by Panasonic Jaguar Racing driver, Nelson Piquet Jr – you can watch that unfold in the video below.
WWF ambassador Murray said he’d made the decision to switch to an EV as part of a broader commitment to look after the planet.
“I always quite wanted to drive an electric car,” the Scot told Piquet Jr during a test drive of the I-PACE.
“Anything I can do to try and help raise awareness for subjects that are important to me I try to use my platform and hopefully going electric with my car as well will do that.
“I think it’s a great looking car, really quiet, and it features some very innovative technology,” Murray said. “In the long run, you’ll save so much money as well.
“It’s clean and safe, but also has the world class design and sports performance that suits my lifestyle.”
In choosing the Jaguar I-PACE, Murray joins a growing league of stars and celebrities making the switch to electric vehicles.
Both pop star Justin Bieber and talk show host Oprah Winfrey are owners of EVs – Bieber received an electric Fisker Karma for his 18th birthday, while Winfrey got herself a Tesla S back in 2015.
More recently, a converted Jaguar E-Type Concept Zero got the royal treatment when the newly married Prince Harry and Meghan Markle joined the electric revolution driving the electric convertible to a reception.
While the E-Type certainly has some smooth retro lines, all the talk with Murray is certain now to be about performance.
Its ground-breaking rapid charging from zero to 80 per cent in 45 minutes and range of up to 480km makes the SUV a model of sustainable sports car performance, and Jaguar hopes it will find its place ”at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution.”
As we have reported, Jaguar’s electric SUV is not due in Australia until October, when it will be available at around $A119,000.
Jaguar Land Rover is also spending up to $4 million rolling out 150 changing stations in Australia, ahead of the local I-PACE release.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.
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