Jaguar Melts Pre-Production I-Paces To Make New Body Panels

1935 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Ayepace, Mar 30, 2020

Mister Dave

Discussion Starter · Apr 17, 2019

Little bit of JLR trivia I ran across:

Jaguar Melts Pre-Production I-Paces To Make New Body Panels

Jaguar is trialing a scheme that sees aluminum taken from its old cars recycled to make components for new models.

The Reality programe is part of Jaguar Land Rover’s plan to develop a "closed-loop’ aluminum strategy whereby the lightweight metal from old vehicles would be re-used in next-generation models. Eventually, such a scheme could see the company dramatically reduce its need for new aluminium, as well as reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The British brand has already reduced its manufacturing operation’s CO2 output by 46 percent per vehicle produced, and although the 180,000 tons of aluminum it consumes every year is small fry compared with the 80 million tons produced, it wants to cut its use of virgin aluminium.

At present, the Reality team is being tested on early, pre-production examples of the I-Pace, which have their batteries removed before being broken up and the metal sorted. Once it is separated out, the aluminium can then be melted down and turned into parts for new Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) models. Scientists at Brunel University then test the new components to ensure they are safe and strong enough to be used in car body panels.

More at motor1.com.

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Car companies have scrapped their Captured Test Fleet cars for years. They don't talk about it. I have run into parts from some that were not supposed to be sold.

I think Jaguar is making a mistake here. They must young and naive in the EV world. Scrapping EVs by the MFR is not good press after all the EV1 publicity. Yes, all the other mfrs melt down their EVs too, but they don't talk about it.

Example: Find a Honda Fit EV. Anywhere. They made over 1,000 for the CARB states, and perhaps more globally. They even melted down the brand new ones pulled from the lots. It might even be collectable if you found one. At least there is an EV1 in a museum.

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Mister Dave

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 17, 2019

But, but........ CO2!

Did you know that the average age in a Madison Avenue firm is 28? They don't know how to connect with you old farts that were alive when the EV1 was in service.

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McRat

· #4 · Apr 17, 2019

Mister Dave said:
But, but........ CO2!

Did you know that the average age in a Madison Avenue firm is 28? They don't know how to connect with you old farts that were alive when the EV1 was in service.

There are lots of young adults who are EV enthusiasts. A surprising number will tell you "General Motors hates electric cars, and only makes them because the government forces them to. I know this is true because I watched Who Killed The Electric Car."

Nothing is harder to kill than a good conspiracy theory. Honda melted down about exactly as many EV during the EV1 era, and a larger number of new and used Honda Fits. But with no conspiracy theory, nobody will ever know.

I would not be surprised if this comes back to haunt Jaguar.

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Mister Dave

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 17, 2019

McRat said:
There are lots of young adults who are EV enthusiasts. A surprising number will tell you "General Motors hates electric cars, and only makes them because the government forces them to. I know this is true because I watched Who Killed The Electric Car."

Nothing is harder to kill than a good conspiracy theory. Honda melted down about exactly as many EV during the EV1 era, and a larger number of new and used Honda Fits. But with no conspiracy theory, nobody will ever know.

I would not be surprised if this comes back to haunt Jaguar.

I had the WKtEC movie on DVD. I was mad too at first at both GM and whomever (oddly I remember it as Toyota who was also featured). Later I thought better of it since it's an obvious anti-corporate hit piece.

I destroyed the DVD rather than sharing it. Hollywood types never learn. I simply can't watch the movie Avatar again after seeing it once. Corporate + military = exponential evil.

"General Motors hates electric cars, and only makes them because the government forces them to." I haven't heard that one yet, but I've heard the kids coming up with some real whoppers on any variety of topics. When I was a maladjusted 20-something I had some pretty screwy ideas too. I have to remind myself of that from time to time.

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LowOnCash

· #6 · Mar 30, 2020

Not sure how much truth there is regarding GM hating EV's when you weigh in the fact they built the GM Volt and Cadillac ELR which I own both. These systems offering 50 miles of range which is pefect for 80% of owners and a back-up gas engine to drive to Ca and back is a perfect concept for most owners looking to test the EV waters.

Last I checked they sold over 180,000 Volts the best part is they are bullet-proof and never break down which few other manufacturers can claim to include Tesla and I-Pace.

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Ayepace

· #7 · Mar 30, 2020

And GM is coming out with a $200,000+ Cadillac EV. There's probably a lot of profit in that figure to cover costs of the learning curve.

Scrapping early production cars and press release cars is nothing new. These are test mules to find out what breaks, what doesn't fit right, get beat up for harsh condition testing, etc. At least they recycled everything they could.

I was involved with a vehicle manufacturer that tested every plant's ability to produce vehicles through the Y2K event. Every one was set to 31 December 1999 and produced a small number of vehicles through the time change, and on other special days for the year 2000 (e.g. leap day). Every one of them were crushed, not sold, since they were not actually made on the day printed on the stickers. New vehicles. No miles. Scrapped.

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