Stellantis' electric future rides on Stella. Who's Stella? It's actually more like, "what is STLA?" On Thursday, the automaker made up of Fiat Chrysler and the PSA Group provided a whole host of details surrounding its new electric vehicle platforms that collectively are named STLA, pronounced "Stella." There are four of them, and each will cater to specific kinds of vehicles to ensure Stellantis can cover its bases well.
From smallest to largest, Stellantis developed STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large and STLA Frame. The names, thankfully, identify what kinds of electric cars the platforms will underpin in the future. STLA Small will handle "efficient city mobility. STLA Medium will tackle "premium vehicles." STLA Large is perhaps most of interest to gearheads as it's meant for "All-wheel drive performance and American muscle." It will all but certainly be the bones for the teased electric muscle car from Dodge coming in a few years. Finally, STLA Frame will underpin future body-on-frame vehicles, such as the confirmed Ram electric pickup truck coming for 2024. The other three platforms are unibody construction.
The future.
The automaker said it plans these platforms to house industry-leading battery technology, and the company's even ready to take a hard look at solid-state battery tech at that -- the holy grail of EV batteries. For now, Stellantis said to expect ranges up to 500 miles to a charge in the Large and Frame platforms, 440 miles for the Medium architecture and 300 miles for vehicles riding on the Small platform. Battery packs will stuff up to 200-plus kilowatt hours of energy in vehicles riding on STLA Frame; energy decreases as the vehicles grow smaller, to as little as 37 kWh for STLA Small vehicles.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares during EV Day said the automaker plans for five "gigafactories" to support European and North American production of its future EVs with a whopping $35 billion investment in the next five years. By 2025, 98% of the vehicles sold in North America will feature some sort of electrification; in the next three to five years, we'll start to see the first new EVs from Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Chrysler make their way to dealers. Crucially, the company thinks EVs will reach a cost parity with the internal combustion engine in 2026, just as it begins to mash the throttle on its EV plans in a big way.
"This is a wonderful opportunity to reset the clock and start a new race," Tavares said of the auto industry in its current state. "We love to compete" and the company is in "full execution mode" on its electrification journey.
