From historic factory to 'factory of the future'. This is Jaguar Land Rover 's plant at Halewood , in the north-west of England, where the manufacturer is announcing a £500-million investment to convert the lines to the production of electric cars , which will complement the current production of combustion and hybrid models. The new cash injection comes on top of the previous £250 million expansion of 32,364 square metres for the production of mid-size electric SUVs based on the Electric Modular Architecture (EMA) platform.
"The historic plant," reports JLR, "has been equipped with technologies including new electric vehicle production lines, 750 autonomous robots, Adas calibration benches, laser alignment technology for perfect parts assembly, and the latest cloud-based digital plant management systems to oversee production. The JLR factory in Halewood Inside the factory at Halewood Production lines and solar panels The new plans include 18,000 solar panels (equivalent to 8,600 GWh of energy/10% of the site's energy consumption), and 'further conversion work to accommodate electric vehicles of different sizes, including: a new body shop capable of producing 500 bodies per day modifications to 1.4 km of the paint shop, with an increase in ovens and conveyor belts to meet the growing demand for contrasting roofs construction of a new automated storage tower capable of storing 600 painted bodies the final production line was lengthened and extended from 4 km to 6 km to allow.