Stellantis considers building further battery factories in the US
Stellantis is planning one or two additional battery factories in the USA, as no less a person than Group CEO Carlos Tavares explained. The US Inflation Reduction Act has created “very favourable” investment conditions in the country.
Tavares told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the first ACC Gigafactory in France. Stellantis will need one or even two battery factories in the United States to reach its production targets, the Portuguese is quoted as saying by Reuters. However, he did not give details on possible partners, timetables or production volumes.
Stellantis wants to create production capacities for battery cells with a total volume of 400 GWh by 2030, as reported. 120 GWh are to be covered by the three European factories of the ACC joint venture in France, Germany and Italy. In addition, Stellantis has already announced two battery factories in North America: together with Samsung SDI in the US state of Indiana with 33 GWh in the final stage and one together with LG Energy Solution in the Canadian province of Ontario with 45 GWh. In the case of the latter, however, the partner companies are demanding more subsidies.
In total, this amounts to 198 GWh, just under half of the demand – with ACC’s capacities fully included. Of the 120 GWh from the three European plants, Mercedes-Benz, as the third shareholder alongside Stellantis and Total, will also receive a certain proportion of the battery cells produced. The planned ACC deliveries to Mercedes have not yet been precisely quantified.
It is unclear which share of the 200 GWh still to be produced in North America. In April, there were reports that talks had already taken place between Stellantis and Panasonic about the construction of a US battery factory. The talks were said to be specifically about the production of cylindrical cells in the 4680 format. However, it is also said that the talks were still at a very early stage – i.e. with an unclear outcome.
While many Stellantis brands in Europe want to sell only electric cars by the end of the decade, the company with its US brands such as Jeep, Dodge and Ram in North America is planning much longer with the internal combustion engine. In 2030, half of the sales in the United States are to be accounted for by electric cars, the other half by petrol engines.
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