Styling revisions mark out 2023 edition.

FIVE years on from its initial launch – and three years since it won New Zealand Car of the Year - Jaguar’s only electric car has been meted updates, though there’s no word yet on when the refresh will hit this market.

The changes to the i-Pace, a medium-sized luxury crossover that has been selling here for $159,900, are light and mainly involve alteration to design detail. The drivetrain elements are unaltered, so performance and range remain the same.

The facelift is exactly that: The overall body shape is unchanged, but the frontage has been revised.

The grille now features a smoother texture, is finished in grey rather than black and is adorned with a newly revised black and silver Jaguar emblem. The front air intakes are now coloured grey, with other elements of the car's styling - the door sills and rear diffuser, for instance - now body-coloured rather than gloss black as before.

Door mirrors, window surrounds and rear badges are now finished in black as standard, with Jaguar offering buyers the option to choose a contrasting black rear section of the panoramic glass roof. Two new satin grey paint colours have also been introduced.

The car continues with a 90kWh battery pack supplying power to dual electric motors, for all-wheel-drive, to develop 298kW and 696Nm of torque and to deliver 0-100kmh in 4.5 seconds and an official range between full charges of up to 470km.

Maximum charging capacity is still 100kW; not a class-leading element but allowing ability to add around 127km of range in 15 minutes. Full replenishment using an 11kW home wallbox takes just over eight and a half hours.

Owners can configure their car to accept energy during off-peak periods too, and a charge capacity limit can be set to prolong the life of the cells.

Inside, the I-Pace employs the same 10.0-inch central infotainment touchscreen running Jaguar Land Rover's Pivi Pro operating system, with two other displays in the form of the climate control screen and the digital driver's instrument cluster. Wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto smartphone mirroring and Spotify music streaming connectivity are also standard.

Charging functions and vehicle preconditioning can be operated through an updated Jaguar Remote smartphone app.

In securing the NZ Motoring Writers’ Guild NZ Car of the Year in 2019, the i-Pace became the first fully electric car to achieve the national prize, which has been awarded annually since 1977.