The plant’s final production line is now also 50 percent longer, with 6 km (3.7 miles) of space to accommodate the batteries. The fully electric vehicles will be produced in parallel with JLR’s plug-in hybrids, such as the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque, and their combustion engines. Traditionally, gasoline cars are built around the engine and consist of components spanning the entire length of the vehicle: the driveshaft, fuel lines and exhaust systems. But electric vehicles are designed very differently, Ford says. “The battery is installed much later in the production process – the electric drive units are mounted in the front and rear subframes, with the large battery in the middle. So we had to expand our production line, spread out the process and separate our battery electric vehicles.”
JLR aims to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2039. As a result, the manufacturer, part of the Indian conglomerate Tata, says its £250 million investment in Halewood is expected to double in the coming years. The focus on electricity and renewables will remove 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) from the power plant’s industrial footprint. Ford says plans include installing 18,000 solar panels that will be capable of producing 8,600 GWh, or 10 percent of the facility’s energy utilize.
However, some recent features are aimed at aesthetics rather than sustainability. Nearly a mile of the Halewood paint shop was modified: expansion of ovens and conveyors reflects growing consumer demand for contrasting-colored roofs; hardening creates a perfect finish. This meant that in the summer of 2023, the entire plant had to be closed for five weeks. “A week and a half was enough time to clean up,” Ford says. “The environment in which the paint is applied has to be incredibly clean – it literally takes the dust to settle, clear, and settle again.”
Droids also suit the tastes of JLR’s wealthy customers. “Now we have robots lifting doors and measuring [car body’s] hole instead of a manual casing line,” says Ford. “Demanding customers prefer narrow gaps around doors and polished finishes. An automated system can do this with nice, even spacing all around.
This article first appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of WIRED UK.