Jaguar Land Rover Shows 49 Parts on One Range Rover Demo Cut More Than One Ton of Production Emissions

Jaguar Land Rover launched Project Cornerstone, a Range Rover demonstration vehicle assembled from an unused shell and fitted with 49 updated components that together weigh 140 kg and deliver more than one ton of CO2-equivalent production savings. Forbes reported that the company worked with its 30 largest suppliers of high-carbon parts such as steel, aluminum and alloy wheels to create the most sustainable versions available at the time.

The resulting components include alloy wheels made with high recycled content and produced using 100 percent renewable energy, headlight assemblies that incorporate recycled tire material and seat foam, and side-window glass made entirely from recycled automotive glass that reduces associated CO2 emissions by 36 percent.

Speaker magnets in the vehicle contain 95 percent recycled materials. The 100 percent recycled door glass has completed testing and validation and will enter a future production vehicle. Reuben Chorley, JLR’s Director of Sustainable Industrial Operations, said the project began just over a year earlier and focused on practical parts rather than hypothetical concepts.

“We challenged them to produce the most sustainable product that they could today for a proof of concept,” he said. JLR does not currently own the material designs developed by suppliers. The company has now invited an additional 150 suppliers to participate in the effort to identify further components that can reach production.

Typical production of an internal-combustion-engine vehicle generates 5.5 to 8 tons of CO2 equivalent, while a battery-electric vehicle generates 8 to 12 tons, according to the data cited in the report. Tailpipe emissions remain the largest greenhouse-gas source from personal transportation, while production accounts for 20-23 percent of lifecycle emissions for ICE cars and 30-46 percent for battery-electric vehicles.