Range Rover Evoque_e in development

Jaguar Land Rover has contributed its Range Rover Evoque platform to a major hybrid and electric powertrain research project in the UK.

Funded in large part by the UK Technology Strategy Board, the £16.3 million ($28 million) project will see the company and about a dozen partners from industry and academia develop three separate drivetrain streams: mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and full-batter EV.

JLR is also pitching £4 million into the project – part of a £2.75 billion spend this year on product and facility development, making it Britain’s biggest single investor in the area.

Dubbed Evoque_e, the project aims to develop a modular technology suite able to roll out in multiple forms on an existing production vehicle platform, Peter Richings, Jaguar Land Rover Director Hybrids and Electrification, said in a statement.

“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.”

An exercise in evolution rather than reinvention, the project serves to further the outcomes of the company’s work with past technology demonstration vehicles.

“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,” Mr Richings said. “We will also look at the use of alternative materials to both reduce the use of rare earth materials and for systems optimisation.”

The upshot, he concluded, will be new technologies with volume production potential and “benchmark performance in terms of cost, weight and sustainable use of materials.”  

Partners include UK electric drive specialist Zytek Automotive, Motor Design Limited (CAD applications), AVL (engineering, instrumentation and testing), Drive System Design (consulting engineers), Williams Advanced Engineering (of F1 fame), Delta Motorsport (high-performance engineering), Tata Steel (part of India’s massive Tata group, owner of JLR), Bristol University, Cranfield University and Newcastle University.

Another partner, transmission specialist GKN Driveline, is behind important transmission revisions to the MY14 Evoque, which is due Down Under in March.

Along with the new ZF nine-speed auto, the new car will offer the company’s Active Driveline on-demand AWD package as an option. The system defaults to front-wheel drive under normal driving conditions, easing up strain on the undercarriage in urban driving and helping cut up to 11.4 per cent off the current model’s fuel consumption figure.

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