Jaguar unveils XJ hybrid at Goodwood
Visitors to Festival of Speed the first to see Jaguar's new e_type, which is nothing like the old E-TypeJaguar has fronted up to the Goodwood Festival of Speed to pull the wraps off a PHEV version of its XJ sedan.
The company says its XJ_e ‘demonstrates how an advanced parallel plug-in hybrid design can deliver reductions in CO2 emissions of more than 70 per cent, without compromising vehicle performance’.
Jaguar has developed the XJ e as an integral part of a wider project run by a consortium comprising Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), electric motor specialist EVO Electric, battery specialist Axeon and transmission manufacturer Xtrac, along with Lotus and Nissan’s Infiniti brand.
This is the third vehicle to emerge from the project, coming after Infiniti’s EMERG-E and Lotus’s Evora 414E, all of which were showcased at Goodwood.
The XJ_e’s all-British drivetrain combines the turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol four from the Range Rover Evoque with a hybridised eight-speed auto transmission incorporating a 69kW motor-cum-generator from EVO Electric.
Power for the electric motor is drawn from a 12.3kWh, 307V lithium-ion battery pack supplied by fellow UK supplier Axeon. Weighing 159kg, the modular battery pack has its own temperature control system to optimise the running efficiency of its lithium iron phosphate pouch cells.
Aggregate output for the system tops 246kW, helping the XJ_e from 0-100km/h in ‘under 6.5 seconds’ and on to a governed top speed of 250 km/h.
The parallel hybrid configuration maximises flexibility, allowing the car to run on pure petrol or pure electric power, or a combination of the two, with the car’s energy management system moving seamlessly between modes to optimise running efficiency. Jag claims an all-electric range of 40km, average fuel consumption of 3.2L/100km and CO2 emissions below 75 g/km.
“The XJ_e investigates how a 5.0-liter V8 engine could be replaced by an advanced 2.0-litre hybrid powertrain to deliver similar performance and refinement, but with CO2 emissions of less than 75g/km,” JLR engineering director Bob Joyce said in a statement. “While the XJ_e is an experimental project, it highlights that JLR customers can expect some exciting low-carbon products in the future.”
Sourcing all components from Britain for the project was important in vindicating the partial funding it gained from UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board through the REEVolution (Range Extended Electric Vehicles) project, which is committed to fostering the development of a UK supply base, among other things.
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