Jaguar Land Rover developing COVID-killing climate control

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced that it has created a new cabin air filtration system that can kill up to 97 per cent of all known viruses, including COVID-19.

Set to be introduced on future vehicles, JLR says the new cabin air filters have been developed using Panasonic's Nanoe X technology that uses chemicals in water droplets to kill any virus or bacteria present in a vehicle's air-conditioning system.

Already at prototype stage, lab tests of Nanoe X have proven to inhibit COVID-19 by almost 100 per cent.

Tests by JLR and virology lab Perfectus Biomed have so far seen its Nanoe X-equipped climate control kill 97 per cent of all viruses and bacteria.

Panasonic's new tech works by using high-voltage electricity to create something called hydroxyl radicals that are nano-sized droplets laced with chemicals.

When the tiny hydroxyls make contact with any virus in the climate control, the chemicals damage the virus' shells and genomes.

The same hydroxyl radicals have also been proven to inhibit and deodorise allergens.

Commenting on the new filtration tech, JLR engineer Alexander Owen said: “Hydroxyl radicals are one of the most important natural oxidants in chemistry and have been helping to clean our atmosphere for millennia, removing pollutants and other harmful substances.

“The creation of this technology and our advanced research is the first step in deploying this scientific phenomenon within vehicle cabins of the future.”

When or what model will receive the air filtration tech has not been made clear, but JLR has already introduced cabin air filters in recent Jaguar and Land Rovers that use existing Panasonic technology that's claimed to be 10 times more effective than a traditional pollen filter.