DS Automobiles reveals upcoming electric models
Stellantis subsidiary DS Automobiles has given the first details of its next two BEV models – including one based on the new Group platform STLA Medium. A little information on the other electric vehicle model was already revealed a short while ago.
A few weeks ago, during the presentation of its business figures for the first half of the year Stellantis announced that DS Automobiles will only launch pure BEVs on the market from 2024. The company has said now that the DS 4, which is currently offered as a PHEV among others, will get a purely electric version in 2024.
The DS 4, built by Opel in Rüsselsheim, Germany, is based on a modernised version of the EMP2 platform (Efficient Modular Platform). The existing BEV models on this platform are the vans such as the Citroën ë-Spacetourer or the Opel models Zafira-e Life (passenger cars) or Vivaro-e (commercial vehicles). Here, the familiar 100 kW drive of the smaller eCMP is used, in contrast to the small car platform, and these vans are also optionally available with a 75 kWh battery (instead of 50 kWh). It is not yet clear whether this drive is also planned for the DS 4 or whether a different configuration will be used.
At the presentation of the yearly figures, a still-unnamed new model was presented that is supposed to offer a range of up to 700 kilometres as the first Stellantis model based on the STLA Medium platform with a battery of up to 104 kWh. With 104 kWh, the DS model would use the largest possible battery configuration of the STLA Medium. Theoretically, the DS electric car could also become an 800-volt model: The STLA Medium can accommodate both the EDM2 and the EDM3 (Electric Drive Module). The EDM2 (125 to 180 kW) is a 400-volt-only unit, while the EDM3 (150 to 330 kW) is optionally available as an 800-volt unit. With the news of the two new models, DS has not provided any further details about the drive units and have only confirmed the STLA Medium with 104 kWh.
Last month, Stellantis presented the four new platforms with its electric strategy – STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large and STLA Frame. The latter, with ladder frames, is primarily meant for large US pickups, while the other three platforms, arranged by size, are supposed to cover classic body shapes such as sedans and coupes, as well as SUVs.
“The car industry is experiencing a change whose breadth and speed are unprecedented. As a pioneer, DS Automobiles anticipated this move with electrification at the centre of its strategy,” says DS CEO Béatrice Foucher. “I took the decision to speed up the development to create a new 100% electric art of travel, desirable in terms of enjoyment and remarkable in terms of quality and performance.”
As DS already offers every model series in at least one electrified version, electric vehicles from the Stellantis brand already accounted for 30 per cent of registrations in the full year 2020. The brand says that in the first seven months of 2021, this share rose to 42.9 per cent.
0 Comments