Stellantis, the mother firm of Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep has announced that it will be working with Samsung SDI, the Korean giant’s battery division. Both firms will manufacture battery cells in North America, but regulatory approval is pending.
This collaboration is expected to start manufacturing in 2025 when the first plant goes live. The location of this facility has not been decided, but annual capacity is said to start at 23 gigawatt-hours per year, but depending on the demand, it could go to 40GWh. To put things in context, Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory is said to have a capacity of around 35GWh per year.
Huge step towards Stellantis’ goal
Eventually, battery plants will back Stellantis factories in the US, Canada, and Mexico with the electron reservoirs required to build a wide range of next-gen vehicles. This includes EV and plug-in hybrids, cars, trucks that will be sold by the plethora of carmakers under the company’s belt.
This is a huge step for Stellantis towards its goal to develop electrified vehicles with 40% of its US sales by 2030, but it will face tough competition from nearly every other carmaker. The company shared much of its strategy back in July.
Making sustainable batteries
Our strategy to work with highly recognized partners boosts the speed and agility needed to design and build safe, affordable, and sustainable vehicles that match exactly what our customers demand. I am thankful to all the teams working on this critical investment in our collective future,” said Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis. “With the forthcoming battery plants coming online, we will be well-positioned to compete, and ultimately win, in the North American electric vehicle market.”
Researchers from Brown University are working on ways to develop batteries that could be used for electric vehicles and other products in place of lithium-ion batteries. The main issue with lithium-ion batteries today is that they can overheat and catch fire when damaged.
