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2022 Jaguar I-Pace gets quicker charging and better in-car tech

Jaguar's electric I-Pace crossover is entering the 2022 model year with small but meaningful technology updates under the sheet metal. It takes less time to charge, and it offers passengers a more intuitive infotainment system. Spotting the visual changes made to the I-Pace requires an impressively well-trained eye. Designers added Atlas Gray accents on the grille, and a Bright Pack joins an updated Black Pack on the list of options, but Jaguar's first EV looks largely the same. Aruba, Caldera Red, Portofino Blue, and Eiger Gray appear on the palette of available colors. It's what's inside that counts for 2022. The I-Pace gains a cabin air ionization system with 2.5PM filtration and a new infotainment system called Pivo Pro already announced for the European-spec model. Shared with the Land Rover Defender among other models in the corporate portfolio, it lets users access up to 90% of common tasks from the home screen in two taps or less, according to the manufacturer. One of the new features packed into the software is an EV-specific navigation system that shows available charging stations along the selected route and provides an estimate of how long drivers will have to wait before their car charges. Motorists can choose the charging stations they want to stop at, regardless of waiting times and charging speeds, or they can let Pivi Pro select the ones it thinks will get them to their destination with the least downtime.  Speaking of charging, the now-standard 11-kilowatt onboard charger zaps the I-Pace's lithium-ion battery pack with up to 63 miles of driving range in 15 minutes when it's connected to a 100-kilowatt DC charger. The crossover's maximum driving range remains pegged at 234 miles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Jaguar is not making major mechanical changes to the I-Pace for 2022, and the high-performance variant we wrote about in 2019 hasn't landed yet, so the crossover carries on with a pair of electric motors (one per axle) that jointly develop 394 horsepower and 512 pound-feet of torque. Jaguar quotes a brisk 4.5-second sprint from zero to 60 mph thanks in part to the through-the-road all-wheel-drive system.  Pricing for the 2022 Jaguar I-Pace starts at $69,900 before destination and incentives enter the equation. Interestingly, it's now only available in a single trim level called HSE; the S and SE models have been dropped from the lineup.

Child cobalt miners: Automakers pledge ethical minerals sourcing for EVs

BERLIN - Leading carmakers including Volkswagen and Toyota pledged on Wednesday to uphold ethical and socially responsible standards in their purchases of minerals for an expected boom in electric vehicle production. Demand for minerals such as cobalt, graphite and lithium is forecast to soar in the coming years as governments crack down on vehicle pollution and carmakers step up their investments in electric models. To cover its plans for more than 80 new models by 2025, Volkswagen alone is looking for partners in China, Europe and North America to provide battery cells and related technology worth more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion). Talks with major cobalt producers, including Glencore, at VW's Wolfsburg headquarters last week ended without a deal. More than half of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country racked by political instability and legal opacity, and where child labor is used in mines. On Wednesday, a group of 10 leading passenger-car and truck manufacturers announced an initiative to jointly identify and address ethical, environmental, human and labor rights issues in raw materials sourcing. The partnership dubbed "Drive Sustainability" consists of VW, Toyota Motor Europe, Ford, Daimler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars and truckmakers Scania and Volvo. The alliance "will assess the risks posed by the top raw materials (such as mica, cobalt, rubber and leather) in the automotive sector," said Stefan Crets of the CSR Europe business network. "This will allow Drive Sustainability to identify the most impactful activities to pursue" to address issues within the supply chain.Reporting by Andreas Cremer.Related Video: Image Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Green BMW Ford Honda Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz Automakers Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Green Automakers Green Culture Electric Scania ethics mining

Jaguar Land Rover to recall 44,000 vehicles over excessive diesel emissions

Jaguar Land Rover is recalling 44,000 vehicles in the U.K. due to some of its vehicles emitting higher CO2 emissions than were officially stated. The recall is said to affect vehicles equipped with JLR's 2.0-liter diesel engine in cars built between 2014 and 2018. Quite a few models are affected, including the Jaguar XE, XF, E-Pace, F-Pace, along with the Land Rover Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar and Range Rover Sport. The excessive CO2 emissions were discovered by the British vehicle certification agency, who then reported it to JLR. The company is reportedly working on a fix that will satisfy the agency and bring the cars back in line with their stated CO2 emissions. As of now, JLR is not saying what the fix will entail. A statement from JLR reads: "The modifications will be made free of charge, and every effort will be made to minimize inconvenience to the customer." The U.K. magazine Which? said JLR told them owners might experience minor changes to the "overall vehicle experience." Reading between the lines there, that sounds like there could be some pretty serious tampering with the engine software, but we'll leave the speculation to a minimum for now. CO2 emissions numbers are used in the U.K. to set tax levels for vehicles, which means JLR could have gotten out of some taxation with its artificially low CO2 numbers. At this point we don't know how badly the numbers are off, so it's impossible to know how egregious the mislabeling is. There also isn't any explanation for why the CO2 numbers are off, but this is all information that could be forthcoming. The 44,000 number could rise, too, because the UK vehicle standards agency says that some gasoline models could also be involved. That would open a whole new can of worms for JLR. Some Jaguar vehicles (XE, XF and F-Pace) offer a 2.0-liter diesel option for the U.S., but Land Rover's only diesel it sells here now is the 3.0-liter V6. For the time being there's no recall out on the diesel or gas engines from JLR in the U.S. There's no chatter surrounding emissions cheat devices like those involved with Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal. Nor does the scale of whatever the problem is come anywhere near the amount of Volkswagen diesels that needed to be recalled or taken off the roads. We'll be keeping tabs on the situation to see if this expands any further than the U.K. Green Recalls Jaguar Land Rover SUV Diesel Vehicles Luxury Sedan