Stellantis opens battery tech centre in Turin
Stellantis has opened its first battery technology centre at its Mirafiori plant in Turin. There, development teams will develop and test battery packs, modules, cells and software for upcoming electric car models.
The €40 million investment in the development of this centre expands Stellantis’ capabilities to develop and test battery packs, modules, cells and software that will be used in future Stellantis-branded electric cars, the company said. More than 100 employees at the battery technology centre in Turin will perform and monitor climatic stress tests, life tests, the development and calibration of software for battery management systems, and the degradation of batteries and cells for analysis and benchmarking.
For testing, the 8,000-square-metre centre has 32 climate-controlled test cells – eight of which are smaller and designed for battery cell testing, and 24 of which are walk-in and can accommodate entire battery packs. According to the company, this makes it “the largest battery technology centre in Italy and one of the largest in Europe”.
The indoor climate in the 24 walk-in chambers can be controlled in terms of temperature within a range of -40 °C to +60 °C with a maximum temperature change of 20 degrees per minute; humidity can also be regulated. The centre can test up to 47 battery packs simultaneously. Stellantis stresses that the technology centre’s power supply (up to 2.2 MW per test cell and 1,200 volts) is designed for future growth.
“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, Stellanti’s Chief Engineering and Technology Officer. “Our new Battery Technology Center at Mirafiori brings together the tools and talented people we need to design, test, verify and produce class-leading products that will meet our customers’ needs and accelerate bringing class-leading electric vehicles to customers around the world.”
The battery centre is not the first eMobility investment at the site. At the Mirafiori plant, Stellantis is manufacturing the electric Fiat 500 on its own small car platform, among other vehicles. In addition, it was announced a year ago that another part of the plant would be converted for the production of hybrid transmissions.
Stellantis is building another battery technology centre for North America in Windsor, Canada. In Windsor, Stellantis is also building (together with LG Energy Solution) a battery cell factory. In Italy, the technology centre and manufacturing will be located at different sites: The battery factory of the ACC joint venture is being built at Stellantis’ Termoli engine plant.
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