‘Evoque_e’ is a new initiative from Land Rover that aims to build state-of-the-art, next-generation hybrid and battery-electric powertrain technologies based on the Range Rover Evoque platform. The UK government is giving £16.3m for this two-year £16.3m Technology Strategy Board project. Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover will give £4m to the project and will head a group of 12 chosen partners, of which eight are from the auto industry while three are universities. These are Zytek Automotive, GKN Driveline, Motor Design Limited, AVL, Drive System Design, Williams Advanced Engineering, Delta Motorsport, Tata Steel, Bristol University, Cranfield University and Newcastle University.
By October 2013, the consortium will design, develop and build three research vehicles that show off the advanced next-generation powertrain concepts for a mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV); a Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) and a full Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV). According to Peter Richings, Jaguar Land Rover Director Hybrids and Electrification, the project seeks to develop technology platforms which are configurable and compatible within the architecture of an existing production vehicle.
The modular technologies include single and multi-speed axle drives; modular battery packs and integrated power electronics, multi-machine, advanced control development and torque vectoring. Richings also said that the research teams will examine how to boost the speed of the electric motor as well as how to decrease its size, weight and cost while boosting performance and durability.
They will also be studying the use of alternative materials to both lessen the use of rare earth materials and for systems optimisation. He reiterated that the goal of the Evoque_e project is to create new technologies with the potential for high volume production that can result to benchmark performance when it comes to “cost, weight and sustainable use of materials.”
