Stellantis Kicks Off Battery Module Production in Windsor
One of the largest automakers in the world is going through rough times. Falling profits, production and job cuts, angry dealers and employees (the latter threatening to go on strike again), and an embattled CEO who plans to leave in 2026 are really putting Stellantis in a bad situation.
Where electric vehicles are concerned, the little Fiat 500e is turning out to be a colossal failure. Also, we have yet to see the new Dodge Charger Daytona, Jeep Wagoneer S and Ram 1500 REV on the road. But it’s not all doom and gloom, you know.
- Also: Stellantis Reaches Deal With Ottawa to Resume Battery Plant Construction
- Also: Stellantis to Spend $3.6B to Transform Ontario Plants for EV Future
NextStar Energy, the joint venture formed by LG Energy Solution and Stellantis, has just celebrated the official start of battery module production at its new factory in Windsor, Ontario. Battery modules are grouped together to form battery packs.
The site, first announced in early 2022 and put on hold in mid-2023 due to a disagreement with Ottawa about financing, is not yet fully operational, mind you. The next and final phase of operations is cell manufacturing, which is set to begin in 2025 when construction is complete.
NextStar Energy expects to be capable of building an annual production capacity of 49.5 GWh, enough to power 450,000 EVs per year. That will make Windsor one of the largest battery manufacturing plants in North America.
The facility required an investment of more than $5 billion. The municipal, provincial and federal levels of the Canadian government all agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to fully support the project.
Stellantis is also partnering with Samsung in a joint venture called StarPlus Energy that will soon have not one but two battery gigafactories in Indiana, south of the border.