Stellantis opens new Battery Technology Center in Italy

The technology centre’s power system can manage up to 1.2kV and 2.2MW per test cell | image supplied

More than 100 employees at the Mirafiori Battery Technology Center, most of them upskilled Stellantis workers, will perform and oversee climatic stress tests, lifespan durability testing, battery management system (BMS) software development and calibration, and teardowns of packs and cells for analysis and benchmarking.

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Stellantis is also building a Battery Technology Center for North America, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, as part of a global battery development and manufacturing network that will include six gigafactories.

“We are in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redefine mobility, providing smart and sustainable solutions for our customers,” said Ned Curic, Stellantis chief engineering and technology officer.

As detailed in the EV Day 2021 presentation, the Stellantis battery plan includes a dual chemistry strategy to serve all customers, design efficiency in battery cells and modules, and housing and pack assembly, for cost competitiveness.

The Mirafiori Battery Technology Center covers 8,000sqm, spread over three levels. The heart of the center is 32 climatic test chambers – 24 walk-in chambers for testing battery packs and eight chambers for testing cells.

The climate in the 24 walk-in chambers can be controlled for humidity and temperature, with a range from -40 to 60 degrees Celsius (-40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit) and a maximum change of 20 degrees per minute. The centre can test up to 47 battery packs in parallel.

Designed for future growth, the technology centre’s power system can manage up to 1.2kV and 2.2MW per test cell.

100% passenger car BEV sales mix

The eight-cell chambers are capable of testing 96 cells in parallel. This part of the technology centre will be devoted mainly to screening innovative battery chemistry and cell behaviour characterisation for future development.

As part of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, Stellantis announced plans of reaching a 100% passenger car BEV sales mix in Europe and 50% passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in the United States by 2030.

To achieve these sales targets, the company is securing approximately 400 GWh of battery capacity, to be supported by six battery manufacturing plants in North America and Europe.