2023-09-11 19:13:32
The race for electrification does not stop. Stellantis, the third group worldwide in terms of net profit – it earned, in the first half of 2023, 10,918 million euros, 37% more – has already stated that will need to build more gigafactories to supply the demand for their brands.
The Franco-Italian-American consortium has improved sales of its 100% electric models by 24% so far this year and intends that, by 2030, all its registrations, around five million units, be zero emissions.
Until now, Stellantis had had six gigafactories to supply the batteries for its industrial plans. With an average capacity of 40 GWh per year, there were already three confirmed in Europe: Douvrin (France), Kaiserslautern (Germany) and Térmoli (Italy). The French one has already been launched, and the other two will do so in 2025 and 2026, respectively.
Something similar is happening in North America: one is already announced in Windsor (Canada) for 2024 and another in Kokomo (USA) for 2025. A third is planned for the United States in 2027, but the location has not yet been specified.
These six plants would mean a capacity of about 240 GWh per year, but in the presentation of its new battery technology center in the former Fiat plant in Mirafiori (Turin, Italy), the consortium stated that its 2030 strategic plan intends to reach 400 GWh.
This means that, to achieve this, about four additional plants would be needed, three of them in Europe (to reach 250 GWh) and one more in North America, to reach 150 GWh.
Technology Center
The renovated Mirafiori center is an 8,000 m2 complex in which the consortium carries out durability tests for the cells and batteries of the group’s electric models. 100 people work there and it involved an investment of 40 million euros.
There are 24 test chambers for large accumulators –voltage and temperature tests are carried out in them–, in which two can enter simultaneously, as well as eight chambers for the cells. Stellantis is building a similar center at its plant in Windsor, Canada.
Mirafiori will contribute to the calibration of the rest of the group’s batteries, as well as to the development of new chemical compositions. The objective is to reduce the weight of batteries by around 50% by 2030.
For now, the first tests have been carried out on the electrical system of the new Peugeot 3008, the first to use the new STLA Medium platform.
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