Stellantis Announces New Automotive Cells Company EV Battery Gigafactory
Last year, 2022, Stellantis announced an agreement with LG Energy Solution (LGES) to establish the first large-scale, electric-vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing facility in Canada. With an investment of $5 billion CAD ($4.1 billion USD) into the manufacturing facility, the automotive group wanted to begin production immediately, but first comes construction. This began earlier this year (2023), and it would seem even more agreements are taking place. Stellantis, together with TotalEnergies and Mercedes-Benz, celebrated another endeavor, the new Automotive Cells Company’s (ACC) battery gigafactory in Billy-Berclau Douvrin, France.
“At the outset of this partnership in 2020, we agreed to an ambitious global timeline to develop electric-vehicle batteries that would power our plan to electrify mobility…As we execute our Dare Forward 2030 strategy and now move to hit our ambitious target of achieving carbon net zero by 2038, Stellantis is actively contributing to the European electrification transition with state-of-the-art EV solutions and supporting France’s crucial role in a sustainable future. I applaud every person involved in ACC for together we are building a strong coalition to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness.” – Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO
Goals are high, with an initial production line capacity of 13 gigawatt-hours (GWh) promised for the first year. As always, the automotive group aims for higher numbers in the later years, rising to 40GWh by 2030. Many automakers are also aiming for carbon neutrality these days, and even with the large goals of GWh production, the facility will not only be able deliver high-performance lithium-ion batteries, but it will also do so with a minimal CO2 footprint. Part of a larger operation to build a total of three European production units, by 2050, Stellantis wants to be leading the EV movement with a battery manufacturing capacity to 250 GWh in Europe by 2030, and a total of 400 GWh of capacity by 2030 with the support of five gigafactories in Europe and North America through upcoming additional supply contracts.
It’s a large goal, and there’s plenty of competition now that every major automaker has a focus on electrifying their lineup. Who knew this would be such a large shift in the industry? There was once a time where Stellantis CEO Tavares was completely against the production of EVs and other electrified models, but the time has come to put up or shut up. Stellantis released its Dare Forward 2030 business strategy in March 2022, and throughout the rest of the decade, we’re going to see a lot more EV tech and electrified models, such as the first-ever fully electric SUV by Jeep next year (2023), and the new Ram 1500 REV electric pickup truck in 2024, joined by Dodge eMuscle, having already released the 2023 Dodge Hornet plug-in electric hybrid vehicle (PHEV).
This is all a part of the Dare Forward 2030 plan to further dominate the playing field. Stellantis announced plans to have 100-percent of its passenger car lineup to come from EV sales in Europe (50-percent) and passenger car and light-duty truck EV sales in the United States (50-percent). Prepare to see a lot more EV models in the coming years. Stay up to date with the latest from Stellantis when you follow us on Aventura Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram social media.