While the Jaguar iPace stood as an aberrative outlier, no other company has resisted the shift to new energy vehicles (NEVs) more than Jaguar Land Rover. The development of a fully electric Range Rover has been ongoing for over ten years. While JLR presents an image of enthusiastically embracing NEV technology, behind the scenes, JLR engineers are not as engaged, which perhaps explains why the fully electric Range Rover remains a mythical concept.

However, in China, where there is little nostalgia for legacy analogue engineering, NEV technology is advancing at an unexpected pace. Europe no longer leads the field of automotive engineering, as underscored by the fact that Land Rover will adopt Chinese NEV platforms and technologies, including fully electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) platforms.

Due to financial constraints, Land Rover lacks the clout to develop its own electric or PHEV platforms and will eventually rely on platforms developed by Chery Automobile. The joint venture, which began in 2012 with JLR initially providing engineering consultancy, has now shifted, with Chery Automobile in a position to provide JLR with its in-house developed electric platforms.

Land Rover will utilize two main platforms designed by Chery engineers. The first is the M3X modular architecture, also known in China as T2X, developed with assistance from German Bentler and dedicated to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and PHEVs. Jaguar Land Rover is primarily interested in adopting plug-in hybrid technology as it lags behind the NEV industry.

The M3X architecture can accommodate Chery’s “Super Hybrid” powertrain, consisting of a petrol-powered ICE paired with two electric motors via a 3DHT165 gearbox, which was the world’s first gearbox to adopt two e-motors in one body.

The key advantages of this DHT hybrid are its nine operating modes, 11 gear combinations, over 1000-km range, and a thermal efficiency of 44.5%. The second modular architecture that Jaguar Land Rover will adopt is the E0X, jointly developed by Chery and Huawei, suitable for both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs).

Other benefits of E0X include the utilization of an 800V high-voltage system, stated energy consumption of 12 kWh/100 km, advanced autonomous driving technology, and the option for air suspension, making it a high-end platform suitable for JLR’s electric cars and range extenders.