Jaguar Land Rover is immersed in the Strategy Reimagine, through which it is intended to give a radical turn to the company and focus it, on the one hand, on an exclusively electric car manufacturer; and on the other, in a company with net carbon emissions throughout its supply chain and operations. The multimillion-dollar investment will not only go to electric cars per sebut to everything that this entails, including facilities in accordance with the new needs, such as the new Electromagnetic Compatibility laboratory that the company has opened in Gaydon.
A modern car is full of sensors, radars and antennas that emit and receive electromagnetic radiation of various kinds. The keyless entry system needs to send and receive a signal from the key in the driver’s pocket; services connected to the Internet cannot work without an LTE module; and without the wave radar that is installed in the front, the adaptive cruise control would not know how to keep its distance from the vehicle in front. That to mention just a few examples.
The different advances in the automobile industry are heading towards three main paths at the technological level: electric drives, autonomous driving and cloud-based connectivity. From remote software updates (over the air) to increasingly complex autonomous driving systems, vehicles will only progressively increase the number of sensors on board. In other words, they will be devices with greater electromagnetic radiation.
In this sense, it is essential to test the electromagnetic compatibility of cars And that’s where Jaguar Land Rover’s new Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) lab in Gaydon, UK, comes in to ensure that future vehicles meet current and future EMC legislation and quality standards. connectivity and electronics. The first to use these facilities for the first time was the new Range Rover Sport.
Ok, but what is electromagnetic compatibility? Electromagnetic compatibility is defined as the ability of equipment to function satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment without introducing electromagnetic disturbance intolerable for other teams in that environment. In other words, that a certain system (in this case, the vehicle as a whole) works correctly despite possible electromagnetic interference. It works by limiting the unintentional generation, propagation, and reception of electromagnetic energy to reduce the risk of unwanted effects, such as electromagnetic interference.
Jaguar Land Rover’s new laboratory has two anechoic chambers completely isolated from the outside. In them, a “silent” road is simulated with rollers that allow engineers to test the vehicles at different speeds, as well as the different systems of the car, including high-voltage batteries and electric motors. But not only that… Bluetooth, GPS antenna, WiFi, 4G and 5G systems, adaptive cruise control, wireless charging or blind spot control are some examples of the systems that are put to the test in the electromagnetic compatibility laboratory. A high-precision antenna receives the electromagnetic waves emitted by the car. This antenna also allows waves to be emitted to check that they do not interfere with the correct operation of the vehicle’s systems.
As part of the Reimagine strategy, Jaguar Land Rover will invest £2.6 billion every year over the next few years in electrification, digitization, connected services and technologies related to the big data. The goal is to make Jaguar an all-electric brand from 2025 (and give it a more luxurious focus), and launch six all-electric models under the Land Rover/Range Rover brands by the end of 2026.
The first battery-powered model to arrive will be the new electric Range Rover, due for launch in 2024. Electric versions of the Range Rover Sport, Defender and Discovery will arrive later. Currently, according to company data, they already have 66% of electrified sales (this includes plug-in hybrid, electric and light hybrid MHEV vehicles). Recall that both the new Range Rover and the new Range Rover Sport, of which we have had the first contact, will have two plug-in hybrid versions (P440e and P510e), in addition to electric versions from 2024.
