Jaguar Land Rover unveils £250m EV facility as electrification powers up

Jaguar Land Rover has unveiled a brand new £250m engineering facility at its centre in Whitley, Coventry, bringing 350 jobs to the area.

The 323,000 sq ft Future Power Lab will allow fast testing of electrical autos (EVs), together with in extreme-weather circumstances, because the marque preps for the launch of 9 new luxurious fashions by 2030.

200 engineers have already secured jobs on the facility and JLR mentioned an additional 150 roles will probably be created, supported by £22m of funding into the ability subsequent 12 months.

Andy Road, mayor of the West Midlands mentioned: “Now we have been steadfast in our ambition to position our area proper on the forefront of each automotive excellence and the transition to electrical automobile manufacturing.”

“At the moment’s sensible information from JLR vindicates our ambition. With the opening of this new Future Power Lab in Coventry – a multi-million pound funding in engineering – JLR are doubling down on their dedication to electrification within the months and years forward.”

The lab will produce Electrical Drive Models (EDUs), which convert electrical vitality to get automobile wheels spinning, for JLR’s subsequent era, absolutely electrical Vary Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar fashions.

It comes after heavy funding from Jaguar in its electrification push this 12 months, because it appears to maintain floor on rivals akin to Aston Martin.

In April, the luxurious carmaker pledged £15bn over 5 years to transition in direction of greener fleets and is making numerous modifications to its British factories.

It has already created a whole lot of recent jobs this 12 months at factories in Solihull, Whitley and Gaydon, Warwickshire.

Thomas Mueller, govt director of product engineering at JLR, mentioned: “Our autos are, and proceed to be, on the forefront of an all-electric automotive future.”

“This facility… is important to offering the superior testing capabilities that will probably be important to the efficiency and reliability of the trendy luxurious autos we’re proudly creating.”