Update to this story added Friday 19 February 2010: we’ve just heard from our man at Jaguar that this is in fact an XF with wading gear attached. ‘We fit the box when doing wading tests,’ he tells us. ‘It catches the water that comes into the air intakes and stops it going into the engine.’ Problem solved, hands held high in mitigation… We’ve left the story below intact, as Jaguar’s electrification strategy continues to intrigue us!
This strange Jaguar XF prototype caught our photographer’s eye – on account of the whopping great test gear strapped to the bonnet and a hushed powertrain. Although taken at very long range, our spy photographer was left wondering if this was one of the electric Jags under development in the Midlands.
Whisper-quiet electric and hybrid Jaguars are on the drawing board and CAR has confirmed that test cars with battery power are in existence. However, a Jaguar spokesman was unable to comment on this set of scoop photos although he confirmed that the company is studying ‘four or five’ new eco technologies.
The new clean Jaguars are coming
Jaguar and Land Rover are urgently developing cleaner-fuel solutions to keep their predominantly large-car-biased product portfolio on message in this low-CO2 climate. It has already pledged that it will use its expertise in lightweight construction more widely, so expect more future models to benefit from aluminium tech.
Jaguar Limo Green
Jaguar is working on the new Limo Green Project, using the XJ as a testbed. Word is that the e-XJ uses a 145kW, 295lb ft electric motor fed by a lithium ion battery pack and topped up by a 47bhp 1.2-litre three-cylinder generator specifically developed by Lotus to recharge batteries.
The Limo Green Project car could have a range of 600 miles, economy of 57mpg and sub-120g/km of CO2, according to media reports.
Jaguar Land Rover is working with the Government’s Technology Strategy Board and numerous partners, including Caparo Vehicle Technologies and research agency Mira on the joint project.
And what if this isn’t an electric Jaguar?
Err, well, we don’t know definitively what this test gear is designed to measure. Perhaps some of our professional automotive engineering readers will share their wisdom by clicking ‘Add your comment’ below and sounding off.