Stellantis and its joint-venture partner will build a second plant to manufacture lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. No budget was announced for the new, 34 gigawatt-hours/year plant, which will be the sixth project that Stellantis has initiated to achieve its EV battery capacity requirements.
Last year StarPlus Energy – a venture formed by Stellantis and South Korean EV battery technology developer Samsung SDI – announced an initial plant to be built in Kokomo, Ind., which will have a capacity of 33 GWh and start up in 2025.
CEO Carlo Tavares has been vocal about his concern over the future availability of EV batteries, in view of the automotive sector’s ambitious plans to shift their portfolios to EVs over the course of the decade.
Stellantis has pledged that 100% of its passenger cars offered in Europe will be battery-electric vehicles by 2030, along with 50% of passenger cars and light-duty trucks for sale in the United States by that date.
Currently the automaker claims it has secured approximately 400 GWh of battery capacity.
“This new facility will contribute to reaching our aggressive target to offer at least 25 new battery-electric vehicles for the North American market by the end of the decade,” Tavares stated. “We are continuing to add more capacity in the United States together with our great partner Samsung SDI and laying the next steps to reaching our carbon neutrality commitment by 2038.”
