Stellantis in Auburn Hills has placed the first of 228 steel structural columns weighing more than 800 tons at the company’s new North America Battery Technology Centre located at the Automotive Research and Development Centre (ARDC) in Windsor, Ontario.
Spanning 100,000 square feet, the facility, when completed, soon will house 35 walk-in climatic test cells for testing up to 63 packs and 11 reach-in test cells for testing up to 132 cells. The facility also will perform testing through a climatic operation range of -40 degrees Celsius to more than 80 degrees Celsius.
The Battery Technology Centre will serve as the Stellantis North America hub for the development and validation of advanced battery electric vehicle (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) cells, modules, and battery packs with a storage area capacity of 120 EV Battery Packs.
The facility also will build on the ARDC’s academic partnership with the University of Windsor on various testing projects.
“At Stellantis, we recognize the pivotal role that battery technology plays in electrifying the automotive industry,” says Ned Curic, chief engineering and technology officer for Stellantis. “Our forthcoming North America Battery Technology Centre in Windsor will be key to design, test and produce class-leading products that will meet our customers’ needs. With multiple walk-in climatic test cells, we will rigorously evaluate batteries for pack testing, environmental durability tests, life cycle tests, and systems validation.”
This comprehensive testing process is meant to ensure Stellantis EV batteries are built to withstand the test of time, performing optimally in various conditions and accelerates bringing cutting-edge electric vehicles to meet the needs of the company’s customers.
The Battery Technology Centre is part of the major $2.8 billion investment Stellantis announced in May 2022, with support from all three levels of government, securing the future of its Windsor and Brampton assembly plants, and expanding the ARDC to accelerate the company’s move to a sustainable future.
Construction is expected to be completed in mid-2024 with full-scale operations scheduled to begin for the first quarter of 2025 and will create an estimated 55 new positions that will consist of engineers and technicians onsite.
In September, Stellantis celebrated the grand opening of its Battery Technology Center for Europe, in Turin, Italy, as part of a global battery development and manufacturing network that will include six gigafactories.
These projects are an indication of Stellantis’ commitment to advancing battery technology for the electric vehicles of tomorrow as part of the company’s Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan and its long-term electrification strategy to invest $35 billion through 2025 in electrification and software globally.
