Pioneering closed-loop aluminium recycling reclaims over 50 000 tonnes – the weight of 200 000 XE body shells – in one year
- ‘REALCAR’ Aluminium recycling prevented more than 500 000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere in the same period.
- Fitting celebration of the first full year of sales for the aluminium Jaguar XE: the first vehicle in the world to incorporate this recycled grade of aluminium.
- View video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgzagtscC2w
South Africa, Pretoria, 3 May 2016 – As the Jaguar XE celebrates its first full-year of sales, ‘REALCAR’, the pioneering recycled aluminium project that contributes to the awarding winning sedan’s aluminium-intensive body has reached a significant milestone.
Jaguar Land Rover has reclaimed over 50 000 tonnes of aluminium scrap, the weight of 200 000 XE body shells, back into the production process during 2015/16 – the equivalent of saving more than 500 000 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere by not using primary aluminium material.
The figures are a result of project ‘REALCAR’ which involves 11 UK press shops implementing a closed loop, segregating waste aluminium scrap so that it can be sent back into production to be re-melted into recycled aluminium sheet metal for use in Jaguar Land Rover vehicles.
The Jaguar Land Rover-led research project, part funded by Innovate UK, also saw the development of a recycled aluminium-based alloy which can accept a higher percentage of the recovered scrap. In 2014, the Jaguar XE became the first car in the world to use this innovative high-strength aluminium alloy, developed by project partner Novelis.
More than £7m has been invested across Jaguar Land Rover’s own Halewood, Castle Bromwich and Solihull press shops to install intricate segregation systems to capture and distribute the aluminium scrap for re-melting, reducing waste, retaining higher quality and value in the material.
Recovering aluminium in this way offers huge sustainability benefits, with aluminium recycling requiring up to 95% less energy than primary aluminium production.
“Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Jaguar Land Rover. We are driven by the desire to produce increasingly world-class, light-weight, vehicles, but we also want to be world leading in how we build them,” said Nick Rogers, Group Engineering Director. “Innovative projects such as REALCAR demonstrate our commitment to meeting our sustainability challenges head-on. Its success so far marks a significant step towards our goal of having up to 75% recycled aluminium content in our vehicle body structures by 2020.”
The structural grade of recycled aluminium has since been tested and introduced in the lightweight aluminium bodies of the All-New Jaguar XF and F-PACE models.
REALCAR is part of Jaguar Land Rover’s circular economy strategy to improve resource efficiency across the business. #JLRclosedloop #REALCAR
Notes to editors:
- REALCAR stands for REcycledALuminium CAR.
- The REALCAR research project was a collaboration between Jaguar Land Rover and the following partners: Innovate UK, Novelis, Zyomax, Norton Aluminium, Stadco, Brunel University and Innoval Technology.
- Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. Innovate UK are business focused and drive disruptive innovation right across the UK economy, funding and connecting pioneering businesses so they can create the products, processes and industries of the future. It is their mission to boost productivity, increase exports and help the UK economy grow head and shoulders above other nations. For further information and to stay updated on Innovate UK’s latest news visit www.gov.uk/innovateuk, follow them on Twitter at @innovateuk or subscribe to their YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/InnovateUK.
- The Jaguar XE’s aluminium-intensive body shell (75% aluminium) weighs 251kg, so 50 000 tonnes of aluminium scrap is the equivalent weight to 199 203 XE body shells.
- CO2 equivalent takes into account all greenhouse gases, not just CO2.
- Jaguar Land Rover is the largest automotive manufacturer in Britain;
- Jaguar Land Rover produced more than 500 000 cars and commercial vehicles in 2015 at its three vehicle manufacturing plants in Solihull, Birmingham and Liverpool;
- In January Jaguar Land Rover was named ‘Best UK Employer 2016’ by Bloomberg;
- Over the past five years, Jaguar Land Rover has doubled sales and employment, more than tripled turnover, and invested over £12 billion in new product creation and capital expenditure;
- Jaguar Land Rover had a record 2015/16 financial year selling 521 571 vehicles globally;
- The company plans 50 product actions over the next five years;
- Jaguar Land Rover is one of the UK’s largest exporters and generates over 80% of its revenue from exports.
