Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest automaker, has big plans for the years ahead in terms of electrification, according to its CEO Carlos Tavares. Between now and 2025, every single car available in Europe will offer some type of electrification, be it a hybrid powertrain or a purely electric setup. Not only that, but Stellantis will also electrify its light-duty vehicles available in the United States by the middle of the decade.
To get there, the result of the FCA-PSA merger will introduce 10 plug-in hybrids and EVs in 2021 alone. Stellantis has its work cut out for it considering the automotive conglomerate includes no fewer than 14 brands active in basically all parts of the world. Carlos Tavares says he’s fully aware some governments are already planning to ban the combustion engine in the long run, so Stellantis needs to be ready for when that’s going to happen.
Before that, Tavares claims hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains will eventually be abandoned, more reason for Stellantis to go “full throttle” on the development of purely electric vehicles. There’s also the issue with meeting increasingly stringent emissions regulations – especially in Europe and the United States – even more reason to heavily invest in electrification.
The backbone of Stellantis’ EV push is a newly developed e-VMP platform engineered for compact to midsize vehicles that do away with the combustion engine. It will debut on a production model in 2023 with the next generation of the Peugeot 3008 crossover. The new architecture will offer support for large 100-kWh batteries to offer a maximum range of more than 373 miles (600 kilometers). Stellantis models riding on the e-VMP underpinnings with power of up to 250 kilowatts (335 hp) and will be offered with front- and all-wheel-drive.
Smaller EVs will ride on the e-VMP platform and will be the foundation for successors of current models such as the Peugeot e-208 featured here, which uses a versatile platform (CMP / e-CMP) developed for cars with gasoline, diesel, and electric powertrains.
Source: Automotive News
