As the electric vehicle landscape continues to experience massive growth, automakers are scrambling to secure a supply of batteries to power their future EVs. One of the ways to source batteries is through partnerships, and Stellantis is teaming up with LG Energy Solution.
The joint venture between the two companies will produce battery cells and modules at a yet-to-be-determined location in North America. This will enable Stellantis to reach its goal of having electric vehicles make up 40 percent of its sales in the US by 2030. Construction of the plant is expected to start in 2022.
The JV will make the batteries in a new plant with a capacity of 40 GWh annually. From there, the batteries will ship to Stellantis’ plants in the US, Canada, and Mexico, where they will end up inside plug-in hybrids and purely electric models.
In comparison, Tesla and Panasonic have a 35 GWh per year battery plant in Nevada. All the brands controlled by Stellantis will benefit from the new battery plant. With its new focus on electric vehicles, Stellantis has committed to spending more than $34 billion in developing new EVs for sales globally.
Stellantis and LG Energy Solution had worked together when the latter company produced the battery used in the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan.
CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, said, ”Today’s announcement is further proof that we are deploying our aggressive electrification road map and are following through on the commitments we made during our EV Day event in July. With this, we have now determined the next ‘gigafactory’ coming to the Stellantis portfolio to help us achieve a total minimum of 260 gigawatt-hours of capacity by 2030. I want to warmly thank each person involved in this strategic project. Together, we will lead the industry with benchmark efficiencies and deliver electrified vehicles that ignite passion.”
Stellantis was formed through a merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Groupe PSA.
In a similar move, Toyota will build a battery plant in the US that will start production in 2025. The Japanese company will invest a total of $3.4 billion in automotive batteries in the US before 2030.