JLR Rapidly Trains 20,000 Employees, Colleagues, & Partners in Electromobility to Provide Luxury Electric Cars – CleanTechnica

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• 20,000 JLR partners and colleagues now trained in electrification and digital
• 95 per cent of global retail partner technician workforce now EV trained
• Training underway for 11,000 JLR manufacturing colleagues to build BEVs
• JLR opened an additional 950 electrification roles in FY24, growing the skills base
• As part of its Reimagine Strategy JLR’s luxury brands will be electrified by 2030, as JLR becomes carbon net zero by 2039

Gaydon, UK — Luxury car manufacturer JLR is has just announced significant progress in upskilling its workforce for electrification.

More than 20,000 JLR colleagues and partners have been trained in electrification and digital skills as part of JLR’s Future Skills Programme.

The UK’s largest luxury car manufacturer has trained:

• More than 2,400 manufacturing employees in its UK production facilities with EV skills
• More than 95 per cent, or 10,000, of JLR’s retail partner technicians, ensuring workshops are prepared to service JLR’s next generation luxury electric vehicles
• Nearly 3,000 engineers trained in electrification
• Around 2,500 in data and digital
• And more than 4,200 JLR and retail partner apprentices and Early Careers employees are currently in training.

With work to transform JLR facilities for electric vehicle production progressing quickly, electrification training for over 11,000 JLR manufacturing colleagues is now underway.

And in FY24, JLR further expanded its skills base by opening a further 950 electrification roles in engineering.

Future Skills training is being led by the JLR Learning Academy which invests around £20m a year to train JLR employees and partners, so they can achieve their potential.

Looking forward, JLR will be training at least a further 15,000 employees across manufacturing, engineering and workshops as part of the programme.

Electrification is creating more opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds. In contrast to traditional ICE engine work, EV work is often more focused on process-oriented approaches rather than intense manual labour, making it accessible to a wider range of employees, including those from neurodiverse backgrounds.

I started my career as an apprentice, learning to work with combustion technology and more recently qualified to dismantle high voltage electric vehicle batteries. The transition to EVs presents lots of learning opportunities, shifting from much of the heavy part lifting associated with ICE vehicles, to more process-driven, technology-centred diagnostics work. I hope this shift will encourage more women to follow my path. —CHLOE TAYLOR, JLR RETAIL MASTER TECHNICIAN AT A SYTNER RETAILER IN NORTHAMPTON

Our plans to electrify our ultra desirable modern luxury brands are unfolding at speed and I’m delighted with the pace that our Future Skills Programme is readying our talented workforce. We are working to attract and upskill a more diverse array of talent and electrification is opening up new and more attractive opportunities for females such as Chloe, who have previously specialised in ICE technology. The realisation of our Reimagine strategy is dependent on the skill of our people and a more diverse workforce brings additional strength. — BARBARA BERGMEIER, JLR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF INDUSTRIAL OPERATIONS

JLR has also introduced a number of other initiatives to enable those from more diverse backgrounds to access a STEM career, including:

• A virtual work experience programme with 2,000 enrolments in eight weeks with of which 31 per cent are women and girls
• A schools partnership programme to encourage students from diverse backgrounds to begin a career in STEM
• Working through partnerships to attract more diverse candidates in the JLR’s Early Careers scheme
• Using AI to make job description wording more diverse and inclusive.

The next electric vehicle to launch will be the new Range Rover Electric manufactured in Solihull, UK, for which clients can join the waiting list.

JLR’s Reimagine strategy is delivering a sustainability-rich vision of modern luxury by design.

We are transforming our business to become carbon net zero across our supply chain, products, and operations by 2039. We have set a roadmap to reduce emissions across our own operations and value chains by 2030 through approved, science-based targets. Electrification is central to this strategy and before the end of the decade our Range Rover, Discovery, Defender collections will each have a pure electric model, while Jaguar will be entirely electric.

At heart we are a British company, with two design and engineering sites, three vehicle manufacturing facilities, an engine manufacturing centre, and a battery assembly centre in the UK. We also have vehicle plants in China, Brazil, India, Austria, and Slovakia, as well as seven technology hubs across the globe.

JLR is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors Limited, part of Tata Sons.

Press release from JLR.