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Jaguar wants to become the British electric company

Jaguar has been telegraphing its electric future for years, and this week we're beginning to see it come to fruition. The company's Formula E race team officially launched September 8 with sponsorship, livery, and an interesting name for its racecar, the I-Type 1. It marks Jaguar's return to factory-supported racing and serves as a model for the company's future strategy. "The Formula E championship will enable us to engineer and test our advanced technologies under extreme performance conditions," Nick Rogers, executive director of product engineering at Jaguar Land Rover, said in a statement. "We will apply this vital knowledge as part of our real-world development." Formula E competition starts October 9 as the all-electric racing series begins its third season. Panasonic signed on as the title sponsor of the team. Formula E is a natural move for Jag and allows the British company to remain true to its racing heritage while still looking toward. The company claims seven Le Mans titles, which is the fourth-most in history, even though it hasn't won one since 1990. That's a great lineage, but Jaguar knows it's getting dusty. Launching a Formula E effort allows it to compete in a form of motorsports that should prove relevant to road-car technology. Jag is drawing on Williams Advanced Engineering (you might have heard of its F1 team) for the electric powertrain. Williams also helped with the development of Jaguar's C-X75 plug-in concept car. Meanwhile, we also captured an F-Pace crossover silently testing this week in the Alps. Though it looks like a normal F-Pace, spy shooters report it was producing no engine noise, leading (or perhaps leaping) to the conclusion it's the rumored electric SUV Jaguar is working on. Likely, this prototype has a diesel engine as a range extender. View 11 Photos Though the camouflaged F-Pace is great fodder for speculation, Jag's electric efforts are not a secret. Jaguar and Land Rover showed off three electric-vehicle demonstrators last year and the company is exploring everything from mild hybrids to full electric powertrains. JLR has filed paperwork to secure trademarks for I-Pace and E-Pace. "JLR is definitely rushing headfirst into electrification," said Ed Kim, vice president of industry analysis for research firm AutoPacific.

UK electric motor maker YASA expands production 50-fold for EVs

LONDON — British electric motor manufacturer YASA said on Thursday it was increasing its production capacity from 2,000 to 100,000 units with a new factory to tap into growing demand from carmakers for greener technologies. Automakers are racing to build greener vehicles and improve charge times in a bid to meet rising customer demand and air quality targets but Britain lacks sufficient manufacturing capacity, an area the government is building up. Last year, the government picked a site in central England to house a new automotive battery development facility, which will develop the processes required to manufacture the latest battery advancements. On Thursday, YASA, based near the English city of Oxford, said it had raised another 15 million pounds ($21 million) as part of its expansion. "Our customers are looking to adopt innovative new technologies such as YASA's axial-flux electric motors and controllers in order to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding hybrid and pure electric automotive market," said Chief Executive Chris Harris. The firm exports 80 percent of production and has worked with companies including Britain's two biggest carmakers Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan as well as Aston Martin. JLR will decide this year whether to build electric cars in its home market, previously citing factors such as pilot testing and support from science and government as pre-requisites. Reporting by Costas PitasRelated Video:

More than 30 vintage Jaguars found, forgotten for decades in a greenhouse

A long, long time ago, some unnamed person realized that storing motorized precious metals in a barn would eventually be passe. This visionary hoarder decided, instead, to collect an assemblage of more than 30 vintage Jaguars in a greenhouse in Beaulieu, England. To passers-by, it would look like someone was tending a crop of blue tarps. To us, thanks to Beaulieu Garage, it looks not like a barn find but rather the first "greenhouse find." The classic car restoration shop wrote in a Facebook post, "we were asked to help clear a private collection of cars," and when Beaulieu Garage saw the array, "An offer was made," and now it has a whole lot of rusted metal looking for good homes. It took a week to get everything out, and the shop said the "parts alone have taken up 12 storage racks, with engines and gearboxes included." While a barn isn't the best place to park a car for decades, a greenhouse is arguably worse. The glass house is a combination of maximum UV levels and rain forest humidity, the ambient moisture free to rust and rot everything the sun can't kill. And early Jaguars aren't known for robust defenses against the elements. Most of the cars are E-Types, many of those the early and more elegant 1960s models. Among the trove are some cars that "you could probably get running in a couple of days," but the photos show there are plenty of long-term projects that rate effort comparable to The Pacific Campaign. Incredibly, Beaulieu Garage is confident that "All will see the road again," assuming the worst problem children can find empathetic buyers. The first salable car has been listed, a left-hand drive, 1960 XK150 3.8-Liter Drophead Coupe with matching numbers that was originally sent to New York. This is said to be the last XK150 the factory painted a cream color, and the fourth-last XK150 ever built. Scraps of the red leather interior remain, the sand colored top looks to be in the same condition. After eight years in the greenhouse, Beaulieu Garage charmingly describes the XK's previous digs as "Dry Stored in the UK." The convertible comes with a heritage certificate, and will cost GBP40,000 ($52,654 U.S.) to trailer home. A Facebook post from today says the shop will get parts lists and pricing up shortly, so stay tuned if you have a lot of time and money you need to find occupations for.