JLR makes Halewood factory EV-ready, with £500m investment

• JLR is making a £500 million investment into its Halewood factory in the UK, as the site pivots to electric vehicle production over the coming years.
• This consists of £250 million being invested now in new production lines, employees, and machinery, and another £250 million further down the line.
• The transformation of the factory will allow pure EVs to be built alongside existing ICE and hybrid production for the meantime, until eventually becoming JLR’s first all-electric production facility.

Jaguar Land Rover continues its EV transition

Whilst JLR currently only offers one EV on the market, in the form of the Jaguar I-PACE, this investment into the Halewood facility will help JLR to boost its fully-electric offerings, ahead of all JLR brands being electrified by 2030. Whilst the upcoming flagship Range Rover Electric will be manufactured at its Solihull plant, the manufacturer hasn’t specifically said which EV models the Halewood plant will produce, instead noting these will be ‘medium‑sized electric luxury SUVs’.

The production of these EVs are part of JLR’s strategy to reach carbon net zero by 2039, and as such, the investments to the factory also include an installation of 18,000 solar panels, expected to provide for about 10% of the plant’s annual energy requirements.

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On the workers side, JLR is opening a new training centre at the Halewood plant, which will focus highly on High Voltage Training for EVs. This will be welcomed by the industry, particularly after Thatcham Research warned of an EV skill shortage in the UK, earlier this month.

Barbara Bergmeier, Executive Director of Industrial Operations at JLR, commented:

“Halewood has been the heart and soul of JLR in the Northwest of England for well over two decades, producing vehicles such as the Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport. Halewood will be our first all‑electric production facility, and it is a testament to the brilliant efforts by our teams and suppliers who have worked together to equip the plant with the technology needed to deliver our world class luxury electric vehicles.”