JLR announced a £500-million (US$669-million) investment to transform its historic Halewood plant to support the parallel production of electric vehicles, alongside existing combustion and hybrid models.

With £250 million already invested, the transformation so far has involved more than one million hours of construction work over the last 12 months. The site has been extended by 32,364 sqm to produce JLR’s medium‑sized electric luxury SUVs on the new Electric Modular Architecture (EMA) platform.

The historic plant has been fitted with technology including new EV build lines, 750 autonomous robots, ADAS calibration rigs, laser alignment technology for perfect part fitment and the latest cloud based digital plant management systems to oversee production, creating the ‘factory of the future’.

This investment is part of JLR’s commitment to its Reimagine strategy, which will see JLR electrify all its brands by 2030, with the aim of achieving carbon net zero across its supply chain, products, and operations by 2039.

Electrification is central to this strategy and Halewood has a future producing ICE, PHEV and BEV models side by side before eventually becoming JLR’s first all‑electric production facility.

Additional transformational work to accommodate different sized electric vehicles includes:

• New body shop capable of producing 500 vehicle bodies per day

• 1.4km of the paint shop has been modified with the expansion of ovens and conveyors to respond to increased demand for contrasting roofs

• Construction of new automated painted body storage tower capable of storing 600 painted vehicle bodies

• Final production line has been increased in length from 4km to 6km to accommodate battery fitment

• Vehicle build stations extended to seven metres to facilitate the different proportions of the new EMA electric vehicles

• 40 New Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) introduced to assist employees with the fitment of high‑voltage batteries

• Delivered High Voltage Training to over 1,600 employees

• £16 million worth of viable equipment from JLR’s Castle Bromwich site, ranging from ABB robots to automated guided vehicles has been integrated for reuse at the new facility

JLR has also focused on maximizing the use of renewable energy, with plans to install 18,000 photovoltaic panels, producing 8,600 GWh of energy equating to 10% of the site’s energy consumption.

Through a mix of renewables, fuel switching and energy efficiency products, JLR is aiming to remove 40,000 tonnes of CO₂e from Halewood’s industrial footprint as part of its carbon net zero targets.