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Recharge Wrap-up: Jaguar Land Rover talks EVs, Batteries should be modular

A new study out of Germany suggests adopting a modular approach to battery offerings in plug-in hybrid and extended range electric vehicles. Automakers could offer the same car with different battery sizes (and different costs, accordingly) to drivers depending on their driving ranges. This would optimize the total cost of ownership for various drivers better than the current approach. Developing a modular battery design and offering appropriate batteries for different customers "is the key for electric powertrains to meet customer expectations and become cost competitive against conventional technologies," according to the report from the Institute of Vehicle Concepts, German Aerospace Center. Learn more at Green Car Congress. Jaguar and Land Rover are looking to offer more electric driving from their vehicles. Wolfgang Ziebart, head of product development for Jaguar Land Rover, said in an interview that its hybrid system is being tweaked for more electric power and "downsized" combustion. He also said the likely target market for EVs would be second and third vehicles, rather than primary vehicles for urban driving. Within that market, Europeans look for something smaller, while American drivers lean toward larger luxury vehicles for their second car. Ziebart uses the Tesla Model S as an example of American tastes, and compares its size to that of the Jaguar XJ. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Thailand will likely approve a Volkswagen factory as early as next week. A German newspaper suggests that Thailand's Board of Investment is set to greenlight the plant, which is planned for a site near the Port of Bangkok. Thailand is a relatively large and growing auto manufacturing country, which seeks to be a major producer of eco-friendly vehicles. The country's "Eco2" program would provide incentives to Volkswagen if it builds clean cars and meets certain production targets. Read more at Reuters. Formula E has chosen Sky Deutschland for broadcasting rights in the German market. The deal includes television rights, as well as online broadcasting. Sky Deutschland has 3.8 million subscribers in Germany and Austria. Showing the races on Germany's largest pay television provider should help generate interest for the series, particularly the Berlin ePrix - the inaugural season's penultimate race - scheduled for May 30, 2015. Read more at the Formula E website.

Jaguar Race Taxis will fling you around the Nurburgring

The Germans have a word, " fernweh," literally meaning "far sickness," that describes a special kind of longing. It's a strange sensation in which you feel homesick for a place that you're in tune with, a place that moves you, but it's a place you've never actually been to before. Someone who loves cars might be drawn that way to the Nurburgring. But if you're traveling to Germany this summer to fulfill that sense of fernweh, how do you experience the Green Hell firsthand? Your rental-car company might frown on you taking matters into your own hands. But Jaguar may have your answer. The Jaguar Race Taxi experience will give you a hot lap around the 13 miles and 73 corners of the Nordschleife in the 575-horsepower Jaguar F-Type SVR and the equally powerful four-door Jaguar XJR575. You'll ride with professional drivers who won't coddle you — Jaguar promises cornering forces of 1.2g. "A ride in the F-TYPE SVR and XJR575 Race Taxi is a thrilling and truly unforgettable experience for any car enthusiast — or anybody who just enjoys going very fast!" says Phil Talboys, JLR's European engineering operations manager. "Our highly experienced professional drivers are veterans of the Nurburgring 24-hour race, making them uniquely qualified to show customers the true potential of these extraordinary supercharged V8 Jaguars." The laps are available until the snow flies in November. Taxi fare is ˆ199 ($236) per lap in either car. You'll be in and out in 30 minutes, counting the safety briefing, the hot lap and a review of the video you'll walk away with. Oh, and there's a weight limit of 120 kilos (264 pounds), so you stockier souls may want to start your diets now. Reservations can be made at the track or online here. The F-Type SVR can take one passenger, and the XJR575 will haul you and two of your screaming friends. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Jaguar planning two bodystyles for next XJ

As we alluded to in today's F-Type first drive, Jaguar hasn't been selling its wares in China for very long, and as a result, buyers there usually don't have the same appreciation for the brand's history. So you might reasonably think that the company's recent radical styling shift (kicked off by the 2008 XF) wouldn't be as jarring to the nation's buying populace since they really didn't have the automaker's more traditionally styled models from years past to compare them against.
Yet while Jaguar and its sister marque, Land Rover, continue to pick up steam in China's developing market, that apparently isn't necessarily the case. Local buyers there tend to have more conservative tastes when it comes to styling, preferring more upright dimensions, big back seats and larger quantities of traditional luxury materials (think: chrome and wood) than other markets currently find desirable. Thus, the very bold current-generation XJ sedan may be leaving some sales on the table.
According to Edmunds, Jag doesn't want to risk that, and as such, it is preparing two bodystyles for the next-generation XJ - one with the rakish coupe-like styling of the current model, and a more "old-school" three-box sedan designed to appeal to a wider swath of Chinese buyers.