Jaguar Land Rover and BMW Group have confirmed they are to join forces to develop the next-generation Electric Drive Units (EDUs) to advance electrification technologies, a central part of the automotive industry’s transition to an ACES (Autonomous, Connected, Electric, Shared) future.
‘The transition to ACES represents the greatest technological shift in the automotive industry in a generation,” said Nick Rogers, JLR’s engineering director. “The pace of change and consumer interest in electrified vehicles is gathering real momentum and it’s essential we work across industry to advance the technologies required to deliver this exciting future.”
The strategic collaboration will build on the considerable knowledge and expertise in electrification at both companies: Jaguar Land Rover has demonstrated its leading technical capability by bringing the world’s first premium, battery-electric SUV to market – the 2019 World Car of the Year, the Jaguar l-PACE – as well as plug-in hybrid models, while BMW Group brings vast experience of developing and producing several generations of electric drive units in-house since launching the BMW i3 in 2013.
The agreement will enable both companies to take advantage of efficiencies arising from shared research and development to production planning and joint procurement across the supply chain.
A team of Jaguar Land Rover and BMW Group experts will engineer the EDUs, with both partners developing the systems to deliver the specific characteristics needed for their own product ranges.
Each partner will manufacture the EDUs in their own production facilities, and, for Jaguar Land Rover, this will be at its Wolverhampton-based Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC).
