Stellantis doubles up on the road to electrification in North America. After the agreement signed on October 18 with Lg Energy, it allies itself with another Korean giant: Samsung Sdi. The group born from the merger between FCA and PSA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Seoul-based company for the creation of a joint venture aimed at the production of battery cells and modules for the USA, Canada and Mexico. The new battery plant, scheduled to start up in 2025, aims to initially have an annual production capacity of 23 gigawatt hours, with the possibility of increasing it up to 40 gigawatt hours in the future.
“With the next battery plants opening their doors shortly – comments the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares – we will be well positioned to compete and ultimately conquer the North American electric vehicle market”. The Portuguese-born CEO underlines the choice to diversify alliances. “Our strategy of collaboration with highly qualified partners – he adds – improves speed and agility, characteristics necessary to design and build safe, accessible and sustainable vehicles, capable of satisfying customer needs in detail”.
Production facilities will meet the demand for batteries from Stellantis assembly plants in North America for installation on next generation electric vehicles, ranging from plug-in hybrids to full electric battery-powered vehicles, sold as part of the brand portfolio Stellantis. The group chaired by John Elkann, fourth in the global automotive hit parade, plans to invest over 30 billion euros by 2025 in electrification and software development, aiming to maintain 30% more efficiency than the industry average. in the ratio of total R&D and capital expenditure to revenues.
The location of the new facility is currently being analyzed and further details will be announced later.
The president and CEO of Samsund Sdi, Young-hyun Jun, was also satisfied. «We are honored to create a joint venture dedicated to the production of batteries with Stellantis, a company that is accelerating its electrification strategy in this era devoted to green energy. With this joint venture, we will do everything possible to meet the high standards of our customers in the North American electric vehicle market by leveraging Samsung Sdi’s battery technology, high quality products and safety measures. “