The world's third-largest automotive group plans to announce a solid-state battery by 2026, to compete with SAIC, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen, and Mercedes. Next year, Stellantis will launch a battery with a completely new cell chemistry, which aims to eliminate the risk of accumulator flammability. Behind this headline lies a more discreet new development, as it will arrive at Dodge for its new Charger Daytona.
The cells of the new battery will not be 100% solid – rather, it will be a semi-solid battery, which will offer an energy density of 375 Wh per kg. Already a substantial space saving, far from the ranges offered by LFP batteries (between 90 and 130 Wh per kg) and NMC batteries (between 190 and 260 Wh per kg), and with a very wide range of use, from -30 to 45°C. As for recharging, it should take 18 minutes to go from 15 to 90%.
If Stellantis wants to reserve this technological advance for a model across the Atlantic, and of smaller volume, it is because it remains very immature. The automotive group has developed it externally, through an American startup called Factorial Energy (Stellantis invested $75 million). It was the company that developed "FEST" (Factorial Electrolyte System Technology), without revealing the exact composition of the electrolyte and the cathode, and which is now looking to offer a small production run.
Why did Stellantis choose the Dodge Charger Daytona?
With Stellantis, the new FEST cell should see a larger production run starting in 2027. At that point, the group will certainly be able to rely on its experience with the Dodge Charger Daytona, which is based on the STLA Large platform, reserved for in the group for the most premium models. This has not yet been launched, and will be with this Dodge. The semi-solid battery will have the advantage of also offering more responsive acceleration, without loss of power, another advantage of solid batteries.
In addition to the gain in power, safety and space in the car, the solid battery will also have the advantage of extending the autonomy. Among the competition, notably with the main battery supplier CATL, the figures reach peaks: 2000 km. The supplier is considering other cell compositions before arriving at an industry where the stability of the solid-state battery will allow it to be commercialized on a large scale. Among them, the sodium-ion battery, with the aim of improving safety and increasing life cycles, at a lower price.
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