A Stellantis employee within the Hybrid and PHEV Vehicles Stellantis Group eDCT Assembly Plant on April 10, 2024, in Turin, Italy.
Stefano Guidi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Automaker Stellantis and Chinese battery large CATL on Tuesday introduced plans to collectively construct a 4.1 billion euro ($4.3 billion), large-scale lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in Spain.
The 50-50 three way partnership might attain as much as 50 gigawatt hours, topic to the evolution of the marketplace for electrical autos in Europe and requisite authorities help.
The facility will likely be constructed at Stellantis’ Zaragoza website in northeastern Spain and is anticipated to be up and working by the top of 2026.
Dodge maker Stellantis stated the plant will increase the automotive large’s “best-in-class” LFP credentials in Europe, enabling the corporate to make extra high-quality and inexpensive battery-electric passenger vehicles and SUVs.
It comes at a time when Europe’s automakers are going through an ideal storm of challenges on the highway to full electrification, together with an absence of inexpensive fashions, a slower-than-anticipated rollout of charging factors and the prospect of focused U.S. tariffs.
“This essential three way partnership with our accomplice CATL will carry modern battery manufacturing to a producing website that’s already a pacesetter in clear and renewable vitality, serving to drive a 360-degree sustainable strategy,” Stellantis Chairman John Elkann stated in a press release.
Elkann additionally thanked Spanish authorities for his or her help.
Shares of Milan-listed Stellantis traded 0.3% larger on Tuesday morning. The inventory worth has plummeted greater than 38% year-to-date.
Stellantis and CATL, one of many world’s largest battery producers, signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in November final yr for the native provide of LFP battery cells and modules for electrical automobile manufacturing in Europe.
“I consider our cutting-edge battery know-how and excellent operation knowhow mixed with Stellantis’ decades-long expertise in working enterprise regionally in Zaragoza will guarantee a significant success story within the trade,” Robin Zeng, CEO and chairman of CATL, stated in a press release.
“CATL’s objective is to make zero-carbon know-how accessible throughout the globe, and we look ahead to cooperating with our companions globally via extra modern cooperation fashions,” he added.
