Stellantis Working to Slash EV Battery Weight by 50% by 2030

Stellantis believes that electric vehicle (EV) batteries will need to become dramatically lighter to meet the industry’s future sustainability targets.

Ned Curic, the company’s chief technology officer, said that today’s EV batteries are “just too heavy” and that his team has set a “hard goal” of developing a battery that is half the weight of current batteries or less by 2030, Reuters reports.

Curic acknowledged that engineers would need to figure out everything from the battery’s chemistry and materials to the design and how it would fit in vehicle architectures.

Stellantis said it invested over $40 million in the Battery Technology Center in Turin, which will develop and test batteries for its future electric models. A similar hub is planned for the North American market near Detroit in Windsor, Ontario.

In addition to long-term projects, Curic hinted at a new entry-level electric model Stellantis would announce in the coming weeks. The new vehicle, set to be rolled out by the end of the year, would be affordable to “just about” any car buyer, Curic said.

From the material side, adhesives, sealants, gaskets, and thermal materials are extensively used in battery modules. It is estimated that the average EV utilizes nearly 8 lbs of adhesives and sealants between the battery and motor; even hybrid electric vehicles use nearly 2 lbs of adhesive in just those two areas of the vehicle.

Adhesives, sealants, gaskets, and thermal materials play an essential role in several areas of the EV battery’s technology, including the battery cells, battery modules, battery packs, and the battery management system (BMS). The battery cell is the smallest packaged form of a battery. Grouping several battery cells together creates a battery module. Grouping several battery modules together assembles a battery pack.