Jaguar halts production of electric I-Pace due to shortage of batteries

Within a week of Boris Johnson’s announcement that Britons will have no choice but to buy new electric cars from 2035, Jaguar has suffered battery supply issues for its I-Pace.

Outputs of the £61,000 pure electric I-Pace at Jaguar’s Graz factory in Austria have been put on hold because of a shortage of lithium-ion batteries to power the vehicles, the car maker has confirmed.

A Jaguar Land Rover spokesman said it has been forced to ‘adjusted’ production schedules due to a ‘temporary’ supply problem, adding it is working to ‘minimise the impact on customers’. 

Batteries for the Jaguar I-Pace are supplied by South Korean provider LG Chem.

Last month it was reported by Reuters that Daimler had been forced to reduce production targets for its Mercedes-Benz EQC electric car from around 60,000 to 30,000 units in 2020 due to a supply shortage of battery cells from the same firm. 

Jaguar Land Rover failed acknowledge if the issues was linked to the coronavirus outbreak in China, which has caused a number of auto makers to close vehicle plants to reduce to potential of the virus spreading. This even resulted in Hyundai pausing production in Korea.

However, batteries produced by LG Chem for the I-Pace and other plug-in vehicles are made at a factory in Wroclaw, Poland, and therefore shouldn’t be impacted.

A spokesperson told us: ‘Jaguar Land Rover has adjusted production schedules of the Jaguar I-Pace in Graz due to temporary supplier scheduling issues. 

‘We are working with the supplier to resolve this and minimise impact on customer orders.’

The issue with battery supplies comes within a week of the Government confirming it will ban the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars five years earlier than scheduled, bringing the deadline forward from 2040 to 2035.

This means motorists will only be able to buy new electric cars in 15 years’ time. 

The I-Pace, which won World Car of the Year in 2019, is currently one of the most in-demand pure-electric models on the market.

Jaguar reportedly sold around 18,000 last year and expects even more orders in 2020.

However, concerns of of battery supply bottlenecks have been rife in recent weeks, which could cause huge headaches for vehicle makers.

As well as Mercedes, Audi also said it had been experiencing difficulties with the lack of batteries for its E-Tron electric SUV. 

It announced it was cutting electric vehicle production estimates by between 4,100 and 5,700 due to problems with suppliers of parts for batteries.

The factory in Brussels where the E-Tron is assembled has now reduced working hours from eight to six with the shortage of batteries estimated to last for up to seven months. 

Reports of battery supply problems have come at a time when manufacturers face huge fines if they fail to cut their fleet emissions of carbon dioxide.

EU rules dictate that mainstream car makers need to adhere to an average pollution output of 95 grams per kilometre by the end of the year, with pure electric cars like the I-Pace playing a huge part in cutting CO2 emissions across ranges. 

Jaguar last week said it was enforcing temporary pauses in vehicle production at factories in the UK between now and the end of March due to a lack of demand for diesel-powered cars.

The decision was made as the manufacturer pursues cost-cutting measures in response to falling orders.

The firm will halt production on certain days over a four-week period from late February at its Castle Bromwich factory in the West Midlands and stop assembly lines on some half or full days at its nearby Solihull facility until the end of March.