Stellantis has confirmed plans for more than 30 billion euros of investment in electrification, eyeing off an aggressive target for the production of its pure electric vehicles by 2030. The plan includes everything from electric pickups to electric high-performance models that promise 0-60mph in as low as 2.0 seconds.
The company’s plan states that by 2030, more than 70 per cent of its sales in Europe and 40 per cent in the United States will be low-emission vehicles, and has accelerated the development of four electric new platforms to achieve its goal.
In the short term, Stellantis says that this new plan will result in double-digit operating income margins as it attempts to become the “benchmark in profitability” for the EV market.
For the unaware, Stellantis is the parent company of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the PSA Group after a 2021 merger that saw the corporation become the sixth-largest auto brand in the world, with brands such as Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Opel and Maserati all under its umbrella.
Stellantis says that its electrification goals will be made possible by the sourcing of more than 130GWh by 2025 and 260GWh worth of batteries by 2030, with manufacturing taking place across five ‘gigafactories’ in Europe and the USA, as well as implementation of solid state batteries by 2026.
The company’s electric platforms range from the STLA small, medium, large, and frame, which are set to offer a range figure of between 500km in the small and up to 800km in the large and frame platforms that can fast-charge up to 32km per minute. These platforms will underpin eight new fully electric models to be launched in the next 3-5 years, with the large platform to accommodate fully electric pickups as well.
Momentum will be supplied by one of the company’s three electric drive modules, which packages the motor, gearbox and inverter into a single, compact package that offers everything from front-, rear-, and all-wheel drive, and an electric form of 4×4. In terms of its battery lineup, Stellantis is hedging its bets on two different types of battery chemistries; a high-density option and a nickel cobalt-free alternative by 2024, with solid-state batteries coming two years later.
The company has signed agreements with two lithium geothermal brine processors in North America and Europe, and says its manufacturing system will allow it to significantly reduce the cost of batteries. More specifically, Stellantis says that it will reduce the cost of a battery pack by 40 per cenmt from 2020 to 2024, and an additional 20 per cent thereafter.
It says that ensuring EVs hit price-parity with internal combustion units by 2026 is a massive priority to ensure wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles, and to hit its sales targets. Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, said:
“Our electrification journey is quite possibly the most important brick to lay as we start to reveal the future of Stellantis just six months after its birth, and now the entire company is in full execution mode to exceed every customer’s expectations and accelerate our role in redefining the way the world moves.”
The group has come up with various personas and focuses for each brand, with Dodge set to “tear up the streets… not the planet” and Maserati to offer “best in performance luxury, electrified” for its classes. See the video below for the full outline of the plans: