In the latest electric vehicle (EV) news, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) announced this week that it is planning to make its Jaguar brand all-electric by 2025 and that it plans to have “e-models” of all JLR vehicles by 2030. Land Rover is also reportedly planning on unveiling six electric models within the next five years and all of the electric cars are expected to be manufactured at JLR’s plants in Great Britain. To fund the endeavor, JLR stated it will “spend around 2.5 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) annually on electrification technologies and the development of connected vehicle services.”
JLR CEO Thierry Bolloré expressed full confidence in meeting the goals, telling Bloomberg Television, “We have the technology, we know how to do it.”
While JLR’s plans are ambitious and the auto giant seems extremely optimistic, Jaguar has significantly lagged behind many other automakers when it comes to EV development thus far. The Jaguar I-Pace SUV is currently its only EV available, and it is made by automotive contract manufacturer Magna Steyr instead of Jaguar itself. Late last year, Jaguar was even fined £35 million (around $48.7 million) by the European Union for its failure to meet annual emission targets.
Nevertheless, JLR is just one of many automakers who are tasked with manufacturing new, non-gasoline models of their vehicles that can meet zero- to low-emissions standards. JLR has kept some R&D focused on hydrogen fuel cells as well, following the lead of other manufacturers like Toyota, who claims that its new 2021 Mirai “cleans the air as you drive” and actually eliminates existing emissions while not creating new ones.
Other carmakers targeting all-electric lineups
In November 2020, Bentley Motors announced it will be offering a fully-electric lineup by 2030, with CEO Adrian Hallmark stating, “We are not only working on one electric car but a full family of electric cars.” In more short-term goals, the luxury brand plans on offering either full-electric or hybrid models of all of its vehicles by 2026.
General Motors (GM) also promised a zero-emission lineup by 2035, and part of this process includes spending around $27 billion on developing new EV technologies within the next four years. CEO Mary Barra stated that GM is “working to establish a safer, greener and better world” and “encourage[s] others to follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole.”
The year 2021 has the potential to be revolutionary for the automotive industry, with the planned unveiling of EVs such as the Tesla Cybertruck, Mustang Mach-E, Nissan Ariya, and Rivian’s Amazon delivery truck as well as its R1T and R1S.
The all-electric push comes as various localities, including several U.S. cities and states as well as many countries in Europe, have formalized “phaseouts” for gasoline-powered cars. Some countries, such as Ireland and Iceland, plan on banning gasoline-powered cars by 2030. Other countries are allowing more time to phase out gasoline cars, while Norway is on a tight schedule and plans to move to fully-electric vehicles by 2025. In the U.S., states like California and New Jersey are hoping to solidify legislation that will ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035.
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