MILAN -- Stellantis said it plans to invest more than 30 billion euros ($36 billion) through 2025 on electrifying its vehicle lineup.
The strategy will be supported by five battery plants in Europe and North America as the automaker gears up to compete with electric vehicle leader Tesla and other automakers globally.
"This transformation period is a wonderful opportunity to reset the clock and start a new race," Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said on a webcast on Thursday. "The group is at full speed on its electrification journey."
Stellantis said it is targeting more than 70 percent of sales in Europe and over 40 percent in the U.S. to be low-emission vehicles, either battery or hybrid electric, by 2030. That compares with 14 percent for Europe and 4 percent for North America in 2021, according to the company.
The automaker aims to make the total cost of owning an EV equal to that of a gasoline-powered model by 2026.
Stellantis said all 14 of its vehicle brands -- including Peugeot, Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Opel/Vauxhall -- will offer full-electric vehicles.
The EVs will be built on four electric platforms and have driving ranges of 500 to 800 km (300 to 500 miles) on a single charge and fast charging capability of 32 km (20 miles) per minute.
Stellantis is pushing hard to electrify in Europe, where its Opel and Fiat brands will phase out gasoline cars over the coming years amid pressure from regulators to cut emissions. It’s less ambitious in the U.S., where Ram’s first all-electric truck will be released in 2024 -- some years after rival models from Ford and GM.
By 2025, Jeep is to have a fully electric model for every SUV segment, Stellantis said.
Another focus for Stellantis will be electrifying its commercial vehicle lineup, and rolling out hydrogen fuel-cell medium vans by the end of 2021.
Dario Duse, of consulting firm AlixPartners, said the 30 billion euros earmarked for the EV program were a "conspicuous amount."
"The former PSA Group already had a good electrified offer that Stellantis will surely try to leverage at best and even the former FCA made steps ahead recently, so the big step up in electrification by 2025 seems achievable," he said.
"Stellantis seems to have put in place quite rapidly a unified platform strategy, same thing for the powertrain modularity, which will allow the company to benefit as fast as possible from scale effects," IHS analyst Romain Gillet said, adding that the company's targets are in line with its competitors.
Stellantis said on Thursday that one of the five battery plants will be at its engine facility in Termoli, Italy, joining previously announced factories in Germany and France. The automaker also is in final steps of securing a partner in North America.
A source told Reuters that Samsung SDI may build a U.S. battery cell plant and has been in talks with automakers, including Stellantis.
Earlier on Thursday, Stellantis said its margins on adjusted operating profits in the first half were expected to exceed an annual target of between 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent, despite production losses due to a global shortage of semiconductor supplies.
It said synergies from its merger were well on track to exceed the first year's target and would help to contribute to a positive cash flow for the year as a whole. Stellantis has promised more than 5 billion euros ($5.9 billion) in annual synergies.
Bloomberg contributed to this report
