Jaguar and Land Rovers to make all cars electric or hybrid by 2020

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced all of its vehicles will be available in electric or hybrid models from 2020 as it becomes the latest car-maker to move away from internal combustion engines.

Singer KT Tunstall with the Land Rover I-Pace at its launch yesterday. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Jaguar Land Rover)

The company’s first fully electric model will be the Jaguar I-Pace, which will go on sale next year.

Chief executive Ralf Speth said: “Every new Jaguar Land Rover model line will be electrified from 2020, giving our customers even more choice.

“We will introduce a portfolio of electrified products across our model range, embracing fully electric, plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid vehicles.”

The announcement from JLR, owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata, follows a similar pledge from the Swedish firm Volvo, which aims for all its new cars to have an electric motor from 2019.

Earlier this week Scotland’s First Minister announced plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2032 as part of efforts to tackle air pollution and climate change.

The move goes a step further than recent proposals from Westminster, which will see conventional combustion engine cars and vans phased out by 2040.

JLR, which increased production by 11 per cent last year to 544,000, also said it will develop a driverless car dubbed “Future-Type”, which features a talking steering wheel that can “summon your car, play music, book you a table and even knows what’s in your fridge”.

The popularity of electric cars in the UK has risen sharply over the past few years.

There are now more than 100,000 plug-in vehicles on the road, compared with just 3,500 in 2013.

The dramatic rise has come about because of a greater level of choice for drivers, a shift in public attitude and improvements in the public recharging network.

The latest move has been welcomed by the green power industry.

Matthew Trevaskis, head of electric vehicles at the Renewable Energy Association, said: “Jaguar Land Rover’s announcement today reflects how rapidly the electric vehicle market is changing and how car companies are recognising that if they’re not increasingly electrifying their vehicles they’re going to be left behind.”

In order to facilitate the shift away from fossil fuels, he says governments must put in place “policy that supports the growth of a network of easily accessible, strategically placed charge points across the country with the renewable energy generation, grid capacity and intelligent management to sustain it”.