Jaguar halts I-Pace production because it has no batteries

Thursday, 13 February 2020

The Jaguar I-Pace was our top EV back in 2019.

Jaguar has been forced to pause production of its all-electric I-Pace for a week because of a battery shortage.

The I-Pace is built in a factory in Graz, Austria, while the batteries that power it come from LG Chem's plant in Poland.

Apparently, this is at least the third time a battery shortage at LG Chem has affected production of an electric vehicle. Hyundai's Ioniq was hurt by the South Korean's inability to keep up with demand for the EV, as was Audi with its e-tron electric SUV.

Jaguar has paused production of the I-Pace over battery shortage issues.

Indeed, battery production is the weak link in the EV chain. This is why Tesla locked down Panasonic to co-design and produce its batteries in 2014. Volkswagen has also spent around NZ$77 billion on securing its battery chain as it ramps up EV production.

**READ MORE:

Jaguar Land Rover's local distributor says that the impact on Kiwi customers will be minimal.

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However, Jaguar's situation is strange as it only sold around 18,000 I-Paces in 2019. 'If it really is a true battery shortage, it's strange that Jaguar didn't sign binding contracts with suppliers in advance,' Sam Jaffe, managing director at Cairn Energy Research Advisors, told The Verge.

'Either they are facing internal pressures to avoid a too-successful EV launch (which could cannibalise pre-existing model sales and anger their dealer networks), or they're just bad at strategy.'

We reached out to Motorcorp Distributors Limited, the importer and distributor of Jaguar in New Zealand to see if local sales will be affected. It said, in a statement:

'Jaguar Land Rover has adjusted production schedules of the Jaguar I-Pace in Graz due to temporary supplier scheduling issues. We are working with the supplier to resolve this and minimise impact on customer orders.

'Due to the lead times of European vehicles, we have a healthy supply of I-Pace's in-transit and on-order. The impact on the Kiwi customers will be minimal.'