Stellantis adds new battery supplier in deal with China's Svolt

Stellantis has reached a supply agreement for electric vehicle batteries and other components with Svolt Energy Technology, a Chinese company that is building a gigafactory in Germany’s Saarland region.

Starting in 2025, Svolt will supply lithium-ion batteries, high-voltage storage systems and battery management systems to Stellantis, the battery maker said Monday in a news release. Stellantis and other automakers are rushing to secure a diversified battery supply base ahead of an expected mass switchover to EVs by 2030.

Svolt, a spinoff of Great Wall Motors, is investing up to 2 billion euros ($2.37 billion) in Germany to create a European manufacturing hub.

Svolt's first cell factory will have the capacity to make as much as 24 gigawatt-hours of batteries to power between 300,000 and 500,000 electric cars annually, the company said last autumn. It is also building an assembly plant for battery packs.

Production is slated to start at the end of 2023 at the site near Saarlouis, along Germany’s border with France. The site will employ 2,000 people. Svolt has said it is seeking other partners, potentially including Ford Motor, which has an assembly plant in Saarlouis.

The agreement with Svolt gives Stellantis five current and future sources of batteries: Longtime partner CATL of China; Automotive Cell Company, or ACC, a joint venture with Total/Saft that will start production in Europe in the coming years; China's BYD; South Korea's LG Energy; and now SVolt.

CEO Carlos Tavares said last week that the group, which has 14 automotive brands, will need 130 gigawatt-hours of battery supply by 2025, with 80 KWh coming from Europe. That figure will reach 260 GWh by 2030, with 170 GWh in Europe -- when at least 70 percent of the group’s European lineup will be either full-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.

A majority of that supply will come from ACC, which is planning factories in France, Germany and Italy.

Stellantis' electrified vehicles, from small cars to large pickup trucks and SUVs, will be based on four EV-optimized or dedicated platforms with ranges of 500 to 800 km (310 to 500  miles).