Join the Adventure!
KWE is developing an electrification process for the XJS, XK8 and XJ Saloons pre-XJ8.
We plan to offer options of 150 and 300 bhp-equivalents, and range options from 60 miles to 300. The look and feel of the car will remain the same as possible, re-using the existing instrumentation and controls. There will beat least three driving modes – Eco, Normal, Sports.
KWE has built the prototype donor car, and will be installing the electric kit over the next few months. As soon as we have a working, safe and roadworthy prototype we will be inviting interested customers to trial it.
Our view on electrification is that while the Jaguar engines are sublime – especially the V12 – with their mixture of raw power and refined sound-track, environmental pressure will continue to sideline combustion engines in favour of electric.
The good news is that electric vehicles (including ours) tend to have much more torque available at the wheels, which makes for an exciting drive. And of course there are no liquid fuel cost rises to worry about. Furthermore, with only one moving part in an EV motor, reliability is hugely improved over the hundreds in a V12. Servicing charges will be substantially lower as a result.
There will always be demand for conventionally-engined classic Jaguars, but KWE feels it is time to address environmental concerns, and allow our drivers to have a beautiful, true classic Jaguar but with much less environmental impact, and to avoid increasingly burdensome city charges on combustion-engined cars. At the moment, Road Fund duty is also low or zero.
We will keep this page updated as we progress with the project, and we want to share the process with you.
June 2022 Update We have now received, (after a year’s wait!!), most of the traction, controls and batteries we need for the prototype. We are using a novel form of lithium-based (LFP) battery construction where specially designed plastic A4-size pouch carriers incorporate air cooling, making changing the quantity of cells straightforward compared with water cooling. This is important since we want to be able to offer various ranges for the car. The lithium cells are very expensive and so it is not sensible to carry the weight and cost of batteries that will not be used. The average commute in the UK is apparently about 17 miles, so carrying 200 miles-worth of batteries makes little sense. On the other hand, classic cars are usually used for fun days out rather than commuting, so a middling range of, say, 100 miles should appeal. Furthermore we are considering renting extra battery packs for special, long trips. These would be arranged in cartridges which can be plugged in to connectors in the boot.
December 2022 Update Unfortunately our supplier of EV equipment has recently gone into liquidation, leaving us without the complete kit, and being owed a fair bit of money! Undaunted, we have now established a relationship with a world-class UK EV kit designer and developer which will make it a lot easier for KWE to install the conversion. Having been already well-proved on Landrovers and E Types we are confident that there will be very little development required for the kit when we install it in XJSs, E Types and later Jaguars.
The conversion will feature a fairly high voltage electric motor, in two power versions. The battery pack is made up of pre-configured modules, and the whole kit has regulatory approval, and is fully safety tested.
Overall, this approach suits KWE rather better than us having to re-invent the (EV) wheel, and our customers will benefit from fully proven technology and support. We will be pursuing our plan to keep the cars looking as original as possible, inside and out.
We recently issued our December 2022 Newsletter, and all the comments received were about the EV plan, with a substantial majority of respondents in favour of having their cars converted. We now have over 70 interested parties.
We hope to be taking orders for XJS conversions in May/June 2023, so do let me know if you would like to informed when the order book opens.
We have had some very interesting questions and comments on EV conversions, and here some condensed Qs and As:
Will a converted car be exempt from London’s ULEZ charge? Probably not, in the short/medium term. The ULEZ scheme is not very subtle, and does not set out to encourage ‘unofficial’ electric vehicles. We are hopeful, however, of getting up some momentum behind the cause of recognising that EV-converted classic cars are the best of both worlds in minimising environmental damage, and having zero emissions. This really is cakeism – a beautiful, individual-looking car having no engine emissions, and not consuming the vast resources needed to build a new car. If you agree, please contact your MP, especially if you live or work in London.
But I like my petrol engine! We think it inevitable that access to liquid fuel will become more and more difficult – partly driven by Governmental ‘initiatives’ – and it will become even more expensive. We don’t think this spells the end of classic (and not so classic) cars for several decades, but all the development work will be in the electric arena – in batteries, electricity supply and charging technologies. The skills needed to keep petrol engines working will continue to (literally) die away, and they will become as niche as steam cars. For drivers in their 50s and 60s this should not be a concern, but younger drivers will at the very least question the legitimacy of driving high emissions vehicles.
So what’s good about EVs? The two biggest factors are reliability (an electric motor has just one moving part), and much better acceleration. Add to this the zero engine emissions and the ability to re-charge at home, and the EV makes absolute sense.
What about lithium supply, mining and processing? It’s true that Lithium production is nasty and dangerous, and very dependent on countries with whom we have a strained relationship. Furthermore, demand in the medium far exceeds supply. We don’t think lithium batteries are the long term future, and there is enormous research going on to find better electrical energy stores which can be safely made with copious common minerals and with better energy density and charging speed. One solution which KWE is keeping a close eye on is supercapacitors which tick all the boxes except on cost. But costs usually come down….
Won’t we run out of electricity supply? Well, yes! But as recent geo-political events have demonstrated, we humans are really good at rising to a technological problem, and advances in nuclear fusion generators are making the future look rosy in this matter. In the meantime we have hugely increasing capacity in wind, wave and solar, and small modular nuclear fission reactors such as are to be found in ships and submarines are likely to be in use within 10 years, changing the whole energy balance, and vastly improving our (in the West) energy security.
What about hydrogen? Hydrogen is a store of energy rather than a source like fossil fuel. It has to be made, using various nasty chemical processes, or by very inefficient electrolysis using electricity – a rather convoluted way of getting electricity into an electric motor. (Hydrogen cars are actually electric cars, using hydrogen gas to power up fuel cells which make the electricity). Hydrogen is really difficult to store, leaks very readily, and no one seems keen on creating a supply infrastructure akin to fossil fuel supply and delivery. We don’t think it has a future in personal transportation, though there is a good case for it in ships and possibly planes.
Personally I love big internal combustion engines, and happily spend too much time watching and hearing monster WW2 aero engines starting up. But my business head says electricity is the future!
We would love to have feedback on these ideas so feel free to email me: [email protected]
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