The Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), an academic department at the University of Warwick, has been awarded £5.7 million by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to form a Prosperity Partnership with Jaguar Land Rover.

WMG’s Barbara Shollock said: “This Prosperity Partnership will tackle the emerging challenges for vehicle electrification.

“Our shared vision is to create new scientific insights to underpin the Automotive Council’s electrification agenda, from batteries and power electronics to electric motors and electric drive units.”

Jaguar Land Rover is working towards a cleaner future, and it has recently unveiled its first battery-powered electric vehicle — the Jaguar I-PACE Concept, which will be on the roads next year.

By 2020, customers will have the option of electrification on half of the company’s vehicles.

WMG has considerable research strengths in some of the technologies needed. For example, its Energy Innovation Centre supports the testing, development and scale-up of new battery chemistries from concept through to fully proven traction batteries.

Current research focuses on developing cheaper and safer batteries, with the emphasis on new battery chemistries, electro-mechanical behaviour, second-life applications, super-capacitors and high-rate chemistries.

WMG and Jaguar Land Rover have identified energy systems and advanced propulsion as the starting point of the Prosperity Partnership.

This research will focus on bearing and gear surfaces, batteries, power electronics and electric machines.