JLR in £1.5bn Solihull investment and collaboration to develop EV technology; Ferrari to invest £2bn in engine efficiency
Mon 16 September 2013
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Ferrari and Jaguar Land Rover have announced major investments to improve engine and overall vehicle energy efficiency. Ferrari is to increase investment by $2bn to 2017 while JLR will invest £1.5bn in its Solihull plant creating 1,700 jobs.
JLR has also announced that it is to lead a £16.3m 'Evoque_e' collaborative research project to develop new hybrid and battery-electric vehicle (BEV) technology.
Ferrari says it aims to build the world’s most fuel-efficient high-performance engines and will ramp up investment in new technology by half to €2bn through 2017.
Ferrari spent €1.4bn on product investment in the five years to end-2012, including the development of its first hybrid car, the LaFerrari. The carmaker, owned by Fiat, says the investment will be funded internally. Alongside the engine development, the extra spending will enable Ferrari to bring out at least one new model every year, plus special edition cars, the company says.
JLR has also recently announced that it is to invest almost £1.5 billion in its Solihull plant, creating 1,700 jobs. The plant will introduce the company’s advanced new aluminium vehicle architecture, which is set to underpin a range of new models for both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.
In a separate development JLR has announced its leadership of an advanced powertrain research and development programme for state-of-the-art, next-generation hybrid and battery-electric powertrain technologies based on the Range Rover Evoque platform.
'Evoque_e' is a two-year £16.3m UK government Technology Strategy Board project. Jaguar Land Rover will contribute £4m to the project and will lead a consortium of 12 selected partners - eight from industry and three universities.
The partners include Zytek Automotive, GKN Driveline, Motor Design Limited, AVL, Drive System Design, Williams Advanced Engineering, Delta Motorsport, Tata Steel, Bristol University, Cranfield University and Newcastle University.
Starting in October 2013, the collaboration will design, develop and build three research vehicles showcasing state-of-the-art, next-generation powertrain concepts for a mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV); a Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) and a full Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV).
Peter Richings, Jaguar Land Rover Director Hybrids and Electrification,said: "The aim of the project is to develop technology platforms which are configurable and compatible within the architecture of an existing production vehicle. The modular technologies include single and multi-speed axle drives; modular battery packs and integrated power electronics, multi-machine, advanced control development and torque vectoring.
"The research teams will look at how the speed of the electric motor can be increased, to reduce its size, weight and cost while enhancing performance and durability. We will also look at the use of alternative materials to both reduce the use of rare earth materials and for systems optimisation.
"The outcome of the Evoque_e project will be new technologies with the potential for high volume production that are capable of delivering benchmark performance in terms of cost, weight and ustainable use of materials."
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