Following eight reported fires in the U.S. market, Jaguar is recalling 6,367 I-Pace electric vehicles in the country. While the fault causing the fires relates to the battery overheating, the automaker is still investigating the root cause issue.
In documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Jaguar says that it is initiating a recall campaign for I-Paces from the 2019-2024 model years. Specifically, it is targeting vehicles built between June 5, 2018, and May 25, 2023, when the recall was published.
The automaker first started its investigation into the issue on February 2, 2022, following a report of a vehicle fire received by its Product Safety and Compliance Committee. It assigned an engineering team to the concern.
Read: Autonomous Jaguar EV That Caught Fire At Waymo Facility May Take Weeks To Extinguish
The team collected batteries from vehicles that had experienced thermal overload that resulted in both smoke and fire. Following its own inspection, Jaguar passed the batteries along to their manufacturer, LG Energy Solution, for further analysis.
Jaguar reports that the detailed analyses of its investigations have not yet been concluded, but it is working with a third-party engineering company to identify further risks. Together, they confirmed that diagnostic over the air data can be used to identify which battery packs are at risk.
That’s good news for owners. Although there isn’t yet a solution to the battery fire, Jaguar can at least do something to protect drivers. Starting on July 21, the automaker will start reaching out to customers, to install new Battery Energy Control Module software in their I-Pace.
The update will better monitor the battery pack assembly status, and will be able to identify when it is in danger of overheating, to warn drivers that a risk exists. It will also limit the charging capacity of the high-voltage battery to 75 percent.
Fortunately, despite the eight reported fires, Jaguar is not yet aware of any injuries or accidents resulting from this battery issue.