EV Brief 7/10/21 EV Brief 7/10/21

Stellantis hosts "EV Day", targeting best-in-class electric vehicles across all 14 brands

Stellantis, the parent company of brands including Fiat, Jeep, Citroën and Opel, has hosted its annual “EV Day”, presenting its electrification and investment roadmap for the coming decade.

Stellantis’ EV Day highlighted the automotive group’s future electrification plans.

Stellantis, the parent company of brands including Fiat, Jeep, Citroën and Opel, has hosted its annual “EV Day”, presenting its electrification and investment roadmap for the coming decade.

Stellantis has committed to offering fully electrified solutions across all 14 major brands, utilising four flexible electric-only vehicle platforms, and a family of three scalable electric drive modules and standardised battery packs.

The company noted that affordability is a priority across the group, as the company is targeting price parity with equivalent internal combustion engine vehicles by 2026. Stellantis’ marketing agency also conjured up a number of just plain puzzling statements which are supposed to express each brand’s electrification approach:

Abarth – “Heating Up People, But Not the Planet”

Alfa Romeo – “From 2024, Alfa Becomes Alfa e-Romeo”
Chrysler – “Clean Technology for a New Generation of Families”
Citroën – “Citroën Electric: Well-Being for All!”
Dodge – “Tear Up the Streets… Not the Planet”
DS Automobiles – “The Art of Travel, Magnified”
Fiat – “It’s Only Green When It’s Green for All”
Jeep® – “Zero Emission Freedom”
Lancia – “The Most Elegant Way to Protect the Planet”
Maserati – “The Best in Performance Luxury, Electrified”
Peugeot – “Turning Sustainable Mobility into Quality Time”
Ram – “Built to Serve a Sustainable Planet”
Vauxhall/Opel – “Green is the New Cool”
Commercial Vehicles – “The Global Leader in e-Commercial Vehicles”

Slogans are all well and good (though I’m not sure what, if anything, the above words achieve) but concrete plans and products are what counts.

Stellantis is working on four different platforms; STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large, and STLA Frame. As previously mentioned, a completely modular solution allows for key components to be easily shared across platforms, including drive units and body options.

The platforms will use existing liquid-type battery technology, including a premium high energy-density option and a more affordable nickel cobalt-free alternative, and Stellantis plans to then introduce solid-state technology by 2026. While the company will rely heavily on outside battery suppliers initially, it will also build five battery plants across Europe and North America, and is aiming to reduce battery cost by more than 40 per cent over the next 3 years.

Dodge spriuks “emuscle”, but doesn’t reveal what’s under the cover.

Jeep’s new plug in hybrid Grand Cherokee begins the brand’s slow move to electrification.

For what was allegedly an EV day, Stellantis did not go into electrification plans for each brand. We know European brands in the portfolio already have fully electric models, and a firm commitment to ditch internal combustion engines by 2030 in the case of Fiat, but we also saw a commitment from brands such as Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler to accelerate the electrification of their model ranges.

Stellantis will invest more than 30 billion euros (approximately $35.6 bn USD/$47.5 bn AUD) on vehicle development through the next three years. A lot of this money will be spent on R&D across the group, as well as capital expenditure relating to battery and vehicle manufacturing facilities. Stellantis is also spending big on software, including on its joint venture deal with Foxconn to develop digital cockpits and in-car connected services.