Project Zeus proves Jaguar Land Rover’s ‘interest’ in hydrogen, says Jon Tongue

July 25, 2024

Land Rover Defender, European Model close-up

Jaguar Land Rover’s Jon Tongue says the company is ‘keeping one eye’ on the hydrogen industry, with the aim to ‘be as nimble and agile as possible if and when the market shifts’.

However, he shared that the majority of JLR’s focus is currently on electrification as part of their reimagine strategy launched under then CEO Thierry Bollore.

JLR ‘know hydrogen has a role to play in the future powertrain mix across the whole transport industry’ – and are leading the charge with a Defender Hydrogen prototype under the code name Project Zeus.

The company has been working on a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) prototype since 2021, based on the Land Rover Defender.

Projections from the Hydrogen Council forecast that hydrogen FCEVs will top 10 million by 2030, with there expected to be 10,000 refuelling stations worldwide.

The FCEV concept is part of Jaguar Land Rover’s aim to achieve net zero carbon emissions across its supply chain, products and operations by 2039.

Tongue, who describes himself on Linked In as a ‘practical problem solver with a passion for sustainable transportation solutions, has worked for JLR since doing an apprenticeship with them in 1998.

And he says: “‘I started my career as an apprentice at Land Rover (as was then) back in 1998 – part of that was a degree programme, and we did a module on environmental studies, and that got me interested in environmental issues.

‘Then when it came to my dissertation project, I started looking at hydrogen as a fuel in internal combustion engines – and I think at the time, BMW were doing some test fleets – that was back in 2003.

“My current role is in sustainability, I work in manufacturing operations – specifically my role is in reduction of scope one and two emissions, which essentially translates into reduction / replacement of gas processes and driving renewable mix into our electricity supply.

‘I am responsible for delivery of targets across our global manufacturing footprint which covers China, Slovakia, Brazil, as well as plants in the UK – 11 plants globally.

‘We signed up to the science-based targets initiative (SBTi) to achieve net zero by 2039 – and 46% reductions by 2030 – from a baseline set in 2020. That is what we are committed to and they are the targets that I have to deliver with our plants.

‘This role, which started in January last year, suits me, as sustainability has always been my passion, as have environmental issues.”

Tongue says JLR are keeping all of their options open regarding viable fuel options for the future – but don’t have the same sort of resources the likes of Toyota can throw at hydrogen powertrain development.

He said: “I can only speak to the stuff that I’m seeing publicly that’s out there in the wider world…but I guess from JLR’s point of view, we are in a fortuitous position where we have developed engines, we’ve developed battery cars, we are working on hydrogen.

“We do have Project Zeus, which is the Hydrogen Defender, so we are not just going in one direction.

‘Toyota are really good at this – they have the resources to be able to just introduce a hydrogen car into the market as a test knowing that the infrastructure isn’t there and that they are unlikely to sell many of them – but Toyota can do that and they will gain significant learning in the process.

‘At JLR, the fact we have got a test hydrogen vehicle shows we are obviously interested in it.

‘To cope with challenges of range, electric vehicles are getting heavier and heavier so hydrogen could solve some of those problems by reducing the weight.

‘So the simple answer is, they are considering [hydrogen] amongst a whole load of other things to be as fuel and technology agnostic as they can, just to give them the best chance to be nimble and agile if and when the market shifts.

‘Ultimately, as it is now, hydrogen fuel is just not available even if you got the technology ready, so that’s where we are at.’

Tongue is fascinated by the argument between hydrogen and electric, however, saying: “‘I find that on Linked In, it’s very tribal.

“There’s the hydrogen gang and the battery gang and it seems like they can’t [agree]…for me, the perfect answer is somewhere in the middle…it’s a combination of all the fuels used in the most appropriate use case – so it’s not just ‘everything should be electric’ or ‘everything should be hydrogen’.

‘For larger vehicles, shipping and things that are hard to decarbonise, hydrogen may be the answer…for smaller vehicles that are lightweight and need to do less miles, electric is a great solution for that.”

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