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Stellantis Invests $406M in Three Michigan Facilities to Execute Multi-energy Strategy

Posted By: DBUSINESS on September 11, 2024.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

Stellantis in Auburn Hills today announced it is investing more than $406 million in three Michigan facilities to support its multi-energy strategy and confirmed that the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) will be the company’s first U.S. plant to build a fully electric vehicle.

The Ram 1500 REV, Stellantis’ first battery-electric light-duty pickup truck launching in late 2024, and the range-extended all-new 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger will be built alongside internal combustion engine (ICE) models in Sterling Heights.

Additional investments will be made to retool the Warren Truck Assembly Plant for production of a future electrified Jeep Wagoneer, and the Dundee Engine Plant for battery tray production and beam machining for the STLA Frame and STLA Large batteries.

“Sterling Heights Assembly has performed an incredible transformation in record time, and I want to thank our colleagues for this great achievement,” says Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis. “Gearing up to build our first-ever Ram electric truck and the range-extended version in Michigan is a meaningful moment of pride for our teams.

“With these investments supporting both Jeep and Ram, we’re adding innovations to our Michigan manufacturing footprint to support a multi-energy approach that is laser-focused on customer demand.”

The investments will “significantly” contribute to Stellantis’ Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan to lead the way the world moves by delivering innovative, clean, safe, and affordable mobility solutions, according to the automaker. Stellantis’ multi-energy approach spans products, platforms, manufacturing, and supply chain enabling the company to adopt a wide variety of electrification adoption scenarios.

With an investment of $235.5 million, the Sterling Heights plant will produce the battery electric 2025 Ram 1500 REV light-duty truck. The Ram 1500 REV was unveiled at the 2023 New York Auto Show and will launch in late 2024. The plant also will build the all-new range-extended 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger.

As part of SHAP’s multi-energy industrialization strategy, the teams completed the BEV-specific installations during two planned down weeks to finish the work ahead of schedule.

Stellantis says it partnered with equipment suppliers and contractors to carefully plan and execute the installation of a new conveyor system, new automation for BEV-specific processes, and the retooling and rearrangement of workstations in general assembly to be able to produce ICE, BEV, and range-extended models on the same assembly line.

The Ram 1500 REV is built on the new STLA Frame architecture, specifically designed for full-size electric vehicles featuring a body-on-frame design, with an all-new high-strength steel frame comprised of advanced materials to be lightweight, yet stiff and durable.

The STLA Frame is wider in the middle to efficiently incorporate the battery pack while still utilizing protection afforded by the frame rails. The REV will reach up to 500 miles of range with the optional 229 kilowatt-hour battery pack and up to 350 miles with the 168-kilowatt-hour battery pack.

The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger offers 663 horsepower, 615 lb.-ft of torque, 4-second 0-60 mph, 14,000 pounds of towing and zero need for a public charger, the company says. It features a 92 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack, paired with an on-board 130 kW generator, sending power to 250-kilowatt (kW) front and 238 kW rear electric drive modules (EDMs). Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-home bi-directional charging affords the Ram 1500 Ramcharger the flexibility to charge another Stellantis battery-electric vehicle or provide power back to the grid.

Approximately $97.6 million will be invested at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant for production of a future electrified Jeep Wagoneer, one of four Jeep EVs that will be launched globally by the brand before the end of 2025. Electrified models will be built on the same line as ICE versions of the Jeep Wagoneer and Wagoneer L as well as the Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.

With an investment of more than $73 million, the Dundee Engine Plant, west of Monroe, will be retooled to assemble, weld and test battery trays for the STLA Frame architecture and to machine the front and rear beams for the STLA Large architecture. Production will begin in 2024 and 2026, respectively.

The new components will be built alongside the GME-T4 EVO, launching later this year, and the new 1.6-liter, I-4 turbocharged engine with direct fuel injection and flexibility for hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) applications that will launch in 2025.

Stellantis says it’s investing more than $55 billion over the decade in electrification to deliver on the targets of reaching a 100 percent passenger car BEV sales mix in Europe and 50 percent passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in the United States by 2030.

To achieve these sales targets, the company reports it’s securing approximately 400 GWh of battery capacity, including support from battery manufacturing plants in North America and Europe. Stellantis says it’is on track to become a carbon net zero corporation by 2038, all scopes included, with single-digit percentage compensation of remaining emissions.