Jaguar E-Pace P300e R-Dynamic SE - long term review

So, I’ve finally managed to swipe a space at the only on-street charger outside my flat. It’s a 3kWh Ubitricity charge point located in a streetlight. Does this mark the beginning of my journey to a fully EV lifestyle? Well, it’s complicated.

Our E-Pace is the P300e R-Dynamic SE - which means it’s the sporty plug-in hybrid one. That also means it’s the expensive one. £54k expensive with options. Gladly, it does feel like a premium, range-topping car and you get plenty of tech on hand. It even has the optional Cabin Air Purification system (£335), which seemed to suggest the exterior air quality was good throughout my entire commute on some of London’s most congested roads. Perhaps ULEZ really is having a positive impact to London’s air quality, or perhaps our Jag is telling porky pies.

Anyway, back to the point. For the first few days I was using the car without plugging it in and getting 31mpg, not great. Of course, if you’re going to buy a plug in hybrid, then you’re going to want to plug it in. However, if you're one of the 30ish per cent of homes in the UK without access to off-street parking to install a home charge point (like me), you’ll most likely need to rely on public charging infrastructure.

This is where the complication sets in. Brimming the E-Pace’s 58-litre tank will set you back around £96. That gave an indicated 322 miles of range. My on-street charger costs a whopping 49p per kWh, meaning to charge the 15 kWh battery cost £7.70 (Including the 35p plug-in fee). How far did that get me? Well, Jaguar claims up to 34 miles. In reality, I got around 27. So, 29p per mile to run the P300e as an EV. There’s the rub, if I get 322 miles out of a full tank costing £95, that works out at an almost identical 30p per mile.

This is by no means a dig at Jaguar, if I could plug this in at home every night, It’d cost me £5.40 for a full charge on my current tariff and would be perfect for commuting. In this scenario, it makes complete sense to go for a plug-in hybrid. It just concerns me that those without a place to charge at home will end up getting fleeced by ever increasing public charging fees as more and more shift to EVs.

Having said that, whilst it works out almost the same to run it on electricity or petrol, I’ll continue to charge it on-street when I can. If nothing else than to ease my conscience that I’m not directly contributing to London’s dirty air.