Jaguar Land Rover & BMW Form Partnership To Develop EV Drivetrain Systems For The Future

Updated: Thursday, June 6, 2019, 15:41 [IST]

Jaguar Land Rover and BMW have entered into a partnership to develop electric drivetrain systems. Arch-rivals Jaguar Land Rover and BMW have now made a historic deal to work together in the development of electric drive units to support future electric vehicles from both brands.

Jaguar Land Rover has displayed its prowess and capability of design and developing electric vehicles by launching the I-Pace electric SUV that has been accepted as one of the best electric vehicles.

The I-Pace has even been named as the 2019 World Car Of The Year. BMW on the other hand started its foray into the modern electric car segment with the i3 hatchback that it launched way back in 2013.

BMW also has the i8 in its arsenal which can arguably stand up to most petrol-powered sports cars in terms of performance, but the BMW being a hybrid relies heavily on electric motors combined with its small 3-cylinder petrol engine to perform like a car with a much bigger engine.

So it is obvious that both Jaguar Land Rover and BMW have fairly good experience in developing and manufacturing electric vehicles. Now, with both coming together to develop electric drivetrains, we can expect something extraordinary to come out for cars manufactured by the two automotive giants in the future.

Jaguar Land Rover says this partnership will work together to push the companies towards the Autonomous, Connected, Electric & Shared (ACES) future that the entire automotive industry is heading toward.

The automotive industry is changing rapidly and everyone is well aware of the fact that the future is electric. For marques like Jaguar Land Rover & BMW though, the electric is now, while the future is ACES. So we can safely assume that the technologies being worked on by Jaguar Land Rover and BMW will support autonomous driving, connected and shared mobility.

Nick Rogers, the Engineering Director for Jaguar Land Rover said, "The transition to ACES represents the greatest technological shift in the automotive industry in a generation. 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.

He went on to say, "We've proven we can build world beating electric cars but now we need to scale the technology to support the next generation of Jaguar and Land Rover products. It was clear from discussions with BMW Group that both companies' requirements for next generation EDUs to support this transition have significant overlap making for a mutually beneficial collaboration."

Both Jaguar Land Rover and BMW will be deputing a team to work together to engineer the EDUs (Electric Drive Units). Once developed, the automotive giants will produce the EDUs at their own production facilities, thereby making it suit their respective product lines.

Thoughts On Jaguar Land Rover & BMW Enter Into Partnership To Develop EVs

Jaguar Land Rover & BMW are companies that have a heavy line of influence on the automotive industry. These are brands that are arch-rivals, but they have now come together to develop EV drivetrain systems.

What does it hold in store for us? Given the already futuristic drivetrain systems on a few cars from both marques, it is safe for us to assume that the new drivetrain systems being developed through this partnership is going to be simply brilliant.