The British manufacturer Jaguar-Land Rover has been one of the most discreetly going through this era of the electric car. It has been one of the first to arrive after the pioneers, but it has remained somewhat stagnant with a very limited offer. Now, JLR wants to take a step forward with the launch of a new battery that will allow the range of its electric cars to increase, and which already has a manufacturer to shape it.
Finally, Jaguar-Land Rover has not followed the example of other Western or Asian groups and has favored the unknown Indian manufacturer Agratas. The strategic agreement will involve the start-up of the first battery factory which will be located in the Indian city of Gujarat and will have a capacity of 20 GWh per year.
Each of these packs will reach 120 kWh, and according to the manufacturer, it will allow the range of models such as the i-Pace to increase up to 725 kilometers under the WLTP cycle and will be established in vehicles that will use the EMA platform, which we will see in a compact Range Rover, the Discovery and possibly the future Defender.
Another aspect to improve compared to the current generation is the fast charging section. In this case, JLR has indicated that the new platform will be able to access ultra-fast points capable of injecting 320 km of range in just 15 minutes. Something that could mean adopting an 800V architecture, which will undoubtedly be a huge leap forward compared to the current situation.
JLR does not forget a fundamental aspect that is not being addressed by the brands, and that is the recycling of batteries. Something that the British brand owned by the Indian giant Tata if they want to leave it ready from the beginning, developing lines prepared to accommodate batteries that are ending their useful life, to recover their materials.
But without a doubt, the most interesting thing is that during the presentation of this project, Jaguar-Land Rover indicated that they are looking for sites to build a second battery factory. This will be located in Europe, and among the favorites is the United Kingdom, but the option of doing it in Spain is also valued.
