Jaguar Land Rover to boost training programme for EVs

Jaguar Land Rover has announced plans to train 29,000 global staff in skills critical to supporting electrification, including engineering and servicing.

Of the 29,000 staff to be trained in the Future Skills Programme over the next three years, 10,000 are based in the UK.

The firm aims to train 11,450 technicians across the 1300 JLR franchises worldwide in a bid to close the skill gap on servicing electric cars.

In 2023, the company will hire some 1200 apprentices, with a further 3400 to follow over the next three years.

Barbara Bergmeier, JLR's industrial operations executive director, said: “Our plans to electrify our product portfolio are running at pace, and we're rapidly scaling up our future skills training programme to ensure we have the right talent to deliver the world’s most desirable modern luxury electric vehicles. 

“Developing the skilled global workforces needed to design, build and maintain the vehicles of the future is foundational. I’m proud to say we're committing to help plug the electric and digital skills gap with a comprehensive, global training programme, which will powercharge electrification both here in the UK and abroad.”

Engineers in areas not conducive to electrification – such as ICE powertrains – will be redeployed. For example, Karl Gunnarsson, a former JLR emissions specialist who previously developed catalytic converters, now works on the battery-cell team.

This follows JLR’s August announcement that it would be training 400 UK staff in data analytics and programming to support its electrification.

Alongside the recent news that JLR has begun working on converting its Halewood plant to produce EVs from 2024 (likely Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque successors), this represents an acceleration of the British firm’s preparation efforts for electrification.

Land Rover plans to launch six new electric models from 2024, including a variant of the Range Rover.

As for Jaguar, Autocar previously reported that it will be relaunched in 2025 as a Bentley-rivalling EV marque manufacturing £100,000-plus crossovers.