If there was one significant improvement Stuff would make to the Jaguar I-Pace, it would be to fully amour it up. Just kidding. At a little over 2,100kg, Jaguar’s EV is already a tank. But someone out there was looking for a little extra protection and they turned to Armormax, a South African company, for help.
The result is the world’s first armoured Jaguar I-Pace. And since the EV was a beast to begin with, the company making the upgrades managed to do their work without substantially increasing the car’s weight. Just 200kg of additions were stuffed inside the vehicle.
Bulletproof I-Pace
Armormax made upgrades to the car’s body and windows. Ballistic glass, capable of shrugging off .44 calibre rounds, and a lightweight synthetic armour have given the vehicle a B4 rating. That means that Jag’s EV can handle handgun and shotgun rounds. Climbing the scale to B7 (which resists 30.06 armour-piercing rounds) called for more weight and more money. Plus, a more substantial rebuild.
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The South African I-Pace upgrade also includes run-flat tyres and a push-to-talk system to communicate with folks outside the car. If you’re worried about bullets, you’re not about to open the windows. Amazingly, the Jag’s front windows remain functional.
Perhaps just as amazingly, the vehicle’s warranty hasn’t been affected in any way. Armormax is an approved installed for Jag South Africa, meaning the upgrades can be done without messing with an existing maintenance plan either. And if you’re thinking that the bulletproof EV doesn’t look all that different from a stock I-Pace, you’d be correct. The bodywork hasn’t been altered in any way. This is intentional. There’s no point in signalling to folks who might want to shoot at you that they’re going to need a bigger gun. Which is a pity, because a set of spikes and a side-mounted flamethrower would really bring the whole thing together nicely.