Stellantis Commits to Making Batteries Lighter and Cheaper in the Future

Stellantis' STLA Medium Platform. (Doc. Stellantis)

JAKARTA - Stellantis, as an automotive company committed to developing environmentally friendly vehicles, especially electric vehicles (EV), is actively working to design a better future, with a main focus on developing lighter batteries.

Stellantis, which is the parent of well-known brands such as Jeep, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Citroen and Lancia, not only plans to introduce electric vehicles, but also aims to reduce the weight of a key component, namely the battery.

For your information, the battery is one of the heaviest components in an electric vehicle. In an effort to address this, Stellantis has set an ambitious target to reduce battery weight by 50 percent by 2030. Stellantis Head of Engineering and Technology, Ned Curic, emphasized its commitment to this goal.

"We realize that the current battery is too heavy, which in turn makes the vehicle too heavy. We will not back down from this challenge," he said, as reported by Autocar, Monday, September 11.

Stellantis' actions are not just rhetoric. Previously, the company had invested in developing lighter lithium-sulfur battery technology at its facility in Silicon Valley, Lytten, USA. By seeking to reduce weight, Stellantis hopes to cut production costs and reduce carbon emissions by using lighter materials compared to lithium-ion.

Apart from that, Stellantis also explained that they are considering the use of sodium ions as an alternative. The company claims that this technology is more economical and is currently being developed by battery manufacturers in China, such as CATL.

Generally, automotive manufacturers often use lithium-iron phosphate batteries which have a significant weight. For example, BYD uses this battery in the BYD Seal model, where the battery pack contributes around 470 kg of the total weight of the car which reaches 1,941 kg.

To support the development of future batteries, Stellantis has established a Battery Technology Center facility in Mirafiori, Turin, Italy. This state-of-the-art facility is the result of an investment of 40 million euros and has the main objective of advancing the development and performance of battery packs that will be used in future electric vehicles.

The Mirafiori facility, which covers 8,000 square meters and consists of three levels, is equipped with 32 climate test rooms, 24 walk-in rooms for battery pack testing, and 8 special rooms for testing battery cells.

With the presence of this facility, Stellantis is increasingly confident in implementing their strategy, Dare Forward 2030, which includes plans to launch 100 percent battery-based electric vehicles (BEV) in the European passenger car market as well as 50 percent BEV for passenger cars and light trucks in the United States towards the end this decade.