Italian Battery Plant Moves Ahead with Final Deal among Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, TotalEnergies/Saft

Stellantis’ existing Termoli plant in Italy will be transformed to a  battery making facility because of a final agreement to add Mercedes-Benz as a new, equal partner with TotalEnergies/Saft and Stellantis. The potential deal was previously announced and now remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Automotive Cells Company was founded by Stellantis and TotalEnergies/Saft in August 2020.This will be ACC’s third production site. The Partners are accelerating ACC development with an objective of at least 120 gigawatt hours of cell capacity by 2030 and to scale up development and production of next-generation high-performance battery cells and modules.

As part of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan (Read AutoInformed on: Dare Forward 2030 – Stellantis Survival Plan Unveiled), Stellantis announced plans to have global annual battery electric vehicle sales of five million vehicles by 2030, reaching 100% of passenger car BEV sales mix in Europe and 50% passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the United States. Stellantis also increased planned battery capacity by 140 GWh to approximately 400 GWh, to be supported by five giga factories together with additional supply contracts.

“We are grateful to everyone involved in this investment to secure the future of the great community in Termoli,” said Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO.

As part of the Mercedes-Benz strategy to go all-electric, ACC will supply the luxury automotive brand with high-performance battery technologies from mid of the decade. (Read AutoInformed on: Mercedes-Benz to invest €60B to be Electric Only; Mercedes-Benz Group Posts Some Strong 2021 Results)

 “Our stake in ACC marks another important step on the way towards an all-electric product portfolio by the end of the decade. To reach this target, we need a total battery production capacity of more than 200 Gigawatt hours by 2030. This is why we are continuously expanding our own R&D and production activities and teaming up with partners to speed up progress,” said Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Chief Technology Officer responsible for Research & Development and Procurement.