Stellantis Opens Advanced Battery Technology Center in Turin with €40 Million Investment

Stellantis Opens Advanced Battery Technology Center in Turin with €40 Million Investment
Image credit: Stellantis

Automotive giant Stellantis has inaugurated its first battery technology center at the Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy. This €40 million investment enhances Stellantis' capabilities to design, develop, and test battery packs, modules, high-voltage cells, and software for upcoming brand vehicles. This center is the largest in Italy and among the biggest in Europe.

The Mirafiori Battery Technology Center spans 8,000 square meters (86,111 square feet) over three levels and houses 32 climatic test chambers. These include 24 walk-in chambers for testing battery packs and eight chambers for cell testing. The facility can control humidity and temperature within a range of -40 to 60 degrees Celsius (-40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit) and manage rapid temperature changes. It can test up to 47 battery packs and 96 cells in parallel.

More than 100 employees, mostly upskilled Stellantis workers, will conduct climatic stress tests, lifespan durability testing, battery management system (BMS) software development, calibration, and analysis of battery packs and cells. The center aims to screen innovative battery chemistry and characterize cell behavior for future development.

Stellantis' commitment to vertical integration for electric vehicle (EV) battery packs—encompassing design, development, testing, and production—forms the core of its strategy to produce top-tier BEVs with a focus on customer performance. The company's EV Day 2021 presentation detailed a dual chemistry strategy, emphasizing cost competitiveness in battery cells, modules, and pack assembly.

The opening of the Mirafiori Battery Technology Center also underscores Stellantis' dedication to its workforce in Italy. Additionally, Stellantis is building a similar center in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, as part of a global battery development network that will include six gigafactories.

Stellantis Chief Engineering and Technology Officer, Ned Curic, highlighted the significance of this development, stating, “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.”

As part of its Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, Stellantis aims for a 100% BEV sales mix for passenger cars in Europe and a 50% BEV sales mix for passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the United States by 2030. To meet these targets, Stellantis is securing approximately 400 GWh of battery capacity, supported by six battery manufacturing plants in North America and Europe. The company is on track to become a carbon net-zero corporation by 2038, including all scopes, with minimal remaining emissions.