Jaguar Land Rover and BMW to co-develop EV drive trains

The transition towards CASE (or ACES) is costing OEMs shiploads of money, forcing them to seek each other’s help to spread the costs and stay competitive. The latest collaboration project is the one announced today by BMW and JLR, which will be co-developing technology for electric vehicles.

BMW Group’s most sophisticated electrified technology to date features an electric motor, transmission and power electronics in one housing. This electric motor does not require rare earths, enabling BMW to reduce its dependence on their availability.

Starting next year, the BMW Group will introduce this electric drive unit, the fifth generation (“Gen 5”) of its eDrive technology, with the BMW iX3 Sports Activity Vehicle. The Gen 5 electric drive unit will be the propulsion system upon which subsequent evolutions launched together with Jaguar Land Rover will be based.

A joint team of BMW Group and Jaguar Land Rover experts located in Munich will be tasked with further developing the Gen 5 power units with production of the electric drivetrains to be undertaken by each partner in their own manufacturing facilities. Both companies will seek to adhere to their own brand-specific propositions in any project.