Jaguar cars set to go electric from 2020

AFP: Jaguar Land Rover will make all its new vehicles available in electric or hybrid models from 2020, it said last week, two months after a similar announcement from Volvo.

The JLR group is the latest car-maker to embrace the move away from internal combustion engines in the wake of stricter government proposals after the Paris climate accord.

“We will introduce a portfolio of electrified products across our model range, embracing fully electric, plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid vehicles,” JLR Chief Executive Ralf Speth said.

Sweden’s Volvo is also moving away from internal combustion engines, announcing in July that it plans to start phasing out production of conventional petrol-only cars from 2019.

British car manufacturer Aston Martin told the Financial Times in August that it wanted to equip all new models with electric batteries from the mid 2020s.

JLR is set to launch its first fully electric model, the SUV Jaguar I-Pace, next year.

The group, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, told AFP in November 2016 that it intended to double its production of cars worldwide in future years.

British media reported that JLR’s emphasis on electric cars in Britain, where most of its car production is based, could lead to the creation of 10,000 jobs in the country.

France and Britain have both recently said they would end sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 in a bid to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution.

One stumbling block in Britain is thought to be costs of providing recharge points on public highways, though Britain’s plan promises to install charge points at motorway service areas and large fuel retailers.

Norway, where electric cars topped the sales charts for the first time in June, intends to restrict the sale of new vehicles with combustion engines from 2025.