British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover is moving to halve its emissions by 2030 as part of its greater sustainability commitments.
Jaguar Land Rover says it’s cutting emissions by nearly half by 2030 in its bid to become net-zero by 2039, and it will reduce average vehicle emissions by 54 percent, including a 60 percent reduction across the life of its vehicles.
The announcement positions the Tata Motors brand closer to 1.5°C emissions reduction target as outlined in the Paris Agreement. Its emissions targets are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Jaguar Land Rover announced its commitment to the SBTi last November during the COP26 Climate Summit.
Reimagine strategy
“Sustainability sits at the core of our Reimagine strategy, with the aim to achieve net carbon zero by 2039, as the creator of the world’s most desirable modern luxury vehicles. As we move from climate ambition into action, we are now embedding sustainability into the Jaguar Land Rover DNA to minimise our carbon footprint across our value chain,” newly appointed Sustainability Director Rossella Cardone said in a statement.
In February, Jaguar Land Rover announced a multi-year strategic partnership with NVIDIA, the leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and computing. That partnership is aimed at the development of automated driving systems plus AI-enabled services. Part of the automaker’s Reimagine strategy, it says the partnership will “transform the modern luxury experience for customers.”
Beginning in 2025, the company says all new Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles will be built on the NVIDIA DRIVE software-defined platform. Its AI features, which will include driver and passenger monitoring and monitoring the vehicle’s environment, play a key role in the luxury automakers Reimagine strategy. It says this will allow it to advance its technology and sustainability.
“Reimagine will see us transition to being an electric-first business,” the automaker says.
“The purity of electric is the next natural step. At the heart of Reimagine will be the electrification of both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.”
The first all-electric Land Rover is expected by 2024, and over the next five years it will see six pure electric offerings across Range Rover, Discovery, and Defender, the company says.
The British automaker says by mid-decade, Jaguar will have undergone “a renaissance to emerge as a pure electric luxury brand with a dramatically beautiful new portfolio of emotionally engaging designs and pioneering next-generation technologies.”
Last month, Jaguar Land Rover announced a zero-emissions charging unit that works by reusing Jaguar I-PACE batteries, creating a circular business model and supply chain.
The automaker partnered with energy company, Pramac, on portable storage units, called Off-Grid Battery Energy Storage Systems, that can run on second-life I-PACE batteries.
“The transition to an electric future, with Jaguar becoming all-electric from 2025 and the first all-electric Land Rover model expected in 2024, is integral to our sustainability strategy through the development of a comprehensive EV ecosystem from batteries to charging,” said François Dossa, JLR’s Executive Director for Strategy & Sustainability.
“This includes our effort to enable technical and business innovations for battery reuse for second-life applications. Our collaboration with Pramac is a proof point in such direction, showing how it’s possible to supply zero-emission power through the combination of renewables and second-life batteries.”
Mercedes-Benz and Tesla are both working on battery afterlife strategies.
But Jaguar Land Rover says it’s not limiting itself to electric.
Beyond electric
Last summer, Jaguar Land Rover announced plans to develop a prototype hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle based on its Land Rover Defender as part of its sustainability initiatives.
“We know hydrogen has a role to play in the future powertrain mix across the whole transport industry, and alongside battery electric vehicles, it offers another zero tailpipe emission solution for the specific capabilities and requirements of Jaguar Land Rover’s world-class line-up of vehicles,” Ralph Clague, Jaguar Land Rover’s Head of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells said last year.
Last October, Range Rover announced that for the first time, customers could order a Range Rover with sustainable vegan leather interiors instead of animal leather.
The sustainable leather is made with Ultrafabrics, a range of animal-free materials crafted in Japan using a proprietary production process that performs like leather but is 30 percent lighter, generating 75 percent fewer emissions than traditional leather.
