ABB electrifying the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY with even more compact and portable chargers than ever before

With the second season of the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY kicking off with another dramatic race in Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, the future of the world’s first production-based all-electric racing series provides a glimpse into the future of city street transportation worldwide.

Since its series launch in 2018, ABB has been the official charging partner, and technology is developing at such a rate that ABB has developed the Terra 53 DC chargers to be even more compact and portable than ever before, making them easier to freight and able to meet the transportation requirements for the series schedule.

“We couldn’t do the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY without the charging technology provided to us by ABB,” explains Mark Turner, Series Manager for the I-PACE eTROPHY. “Quite literally, we would not be able to get the cars re-charged in time between qualifying and the race, or between free practice and qualifying without the excellent charging technology that ABB give us.”

Such is the efficiency of these new ABB units, they are capable of providing the electric vehicle with 200km of cruising range in just eight minutes and they must also be able to cope with severe extremes in weather conditions. And that means withstanding temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius at the Jaguar test facility in Arjeplog, Sweden, to the plus 40 degrees Celsius and high humidity of Sanya in China.

“We reached out to ABB and they designed and developed a bespoke charger for us,” adds Adam Jones, Technical Manager for the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY. “Here, we have the 50kW charger. We needed to be able to turn around the car from a depleted battery following the race run to a fully-charged battery within two hours. It also needed to be able to be shipped around the world, deal with the environment conditions that it’s going to be subjected to, ad be reliable.”

It’s this connection between the race circuit and sustainable transportation around city streets that is the key theme for manufacturers and something of a looking glass into the future of road cars in tomorrow’s world.