Motor Mouth: Jeep, Ram and Dodge go green

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With equal parts bombast and exactitude, Stellantis finally announced, in truly unparalleled detail, the future of its electrification plans. From electric drive modules to battery chemistries, from tiny Fiat 500s to huge Ram pickups, it now has a plan to electrify virtually every single model of the 14 brands that now fall under the merged PSA/FCA umbrella.

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As with all automakers, the company boasted unheard sums to be devoted to the research of all things lithium-ion — $30 billion over the next five years — and announced ambitious plans to supplant ICE-powered cars for low-emissions vehicles. 70 per cent of its European sales are to be plug-ins by 2030, while on the home front, 40 per cent of Fiat Chrysler sales will either be battery-powered electrics or PHEVs in the same time frame.

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Motor Mouth: Jeep, Ram and Dodge go green Back to video

The really big news — at least, that which is making local headlines — is that by 2024 there will be a battery-powered version of the Ram pickup . Now, diesel fans need not worry; Stellantis’ plans for electrification calls for a more gradual transformation than some other manufacturers — here’s looking at you, GM — but that is nonetheless a much quicker rollout than what CEO Mike Manley projected last year when he said his company had a “different view of timing and adoption rates, particularly in North America in terms of full electrification” for pickups.

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But while a battery-powered Ram may be the biggest news that came out of  “EV Day,” it certainly wasn’t the most important. Giving investors and media alike a full tour of its laboratories, normally top-secret details such as battery chemistry and invertor voltage were bandied about with surprising transparency.

For one thing, while we know Stellantis expects solid-state batteries to be ready for prime-time by 2026, the company will be working on two separate battery chemistries in the interim: with and without nickel. The difference between the two — at least when it comes to efficiency — is as large as the gulf between gasoline and diesel engines. The lower-end battery, says Senior VP for powertrains Jean Personnaz, is good for energy densities of only 400 to 500 Wh/L, while the higher-density version achieves some 600 to 700 Wh/L. The reason why you should pay attention to those numbers is that achieving range targets requires stuffing as much battery into as little space as possible. The more energy-dense the battery, the longer the driving range you can boast.

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The higher-tech chemistry does cost more, so it’s going to be interesting to see how Stellantis chooses different chemistries for different platforms. Each of the four new modular platforms — STLA Small (Fiat 500 and the like), STLA Medium (premium sedans like Alfa Romeo), STLA Large (AWD crossovers and large muscle cars such as the Dodge Challenger) and STLA Frame (pickups and large SUVs) — will have a different range of battery sizes available. So, for instance, while the aforementioned Challenger will be available with batteries ranging from 101 to 118 kilowatt-hours, an electrified Ram will boast anywhere from 159 to 200-kWh versions.

What makes Stellantis’ dual-chemistry approach most interesting is how it will apply those different energy densities. If, for instance, the lower-priced version of each vehicle — a base 159-kWh Ram 1500 — were to run the cheaper nickel-free technology while a top-of-the-line 200-kWh Limited Longhorn ran the higher-density chemistry, both batteries might fit in the same space despite their different ratings. Customers would save money because the base version’s battery chemistry is cheaper; the company saves money because the batteries might be easily swappable, and the whole truck is made lighter and more efficient because the engineers have optimized space utilization. CEO Carlos Tavares made much of Stellantis’ ability to out-engineer its competition; keeping the packaging of its batteries as tight as possible would go a long way to proving the former FCA and PSA groups really are at the forefront of electrification. Throw in the fact that some of these batteries will be running on older 400-volt architecture while others will boast superior 800-volt technology, and you have a smorgasbord of battery solutions for each of the automaker’s 14 divisions to choose from. It’s pretty impressive stuff.

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However, battery technology — or, more accurately, the range those big batteries enable — is also where the presentation’s exactitude veered sharply toward bombast. Indeed, Stellantis’ projected range for its future battery-powered vehicles is nothing short of phantasmagorical, the company claiming that even its smallest EVs should be able to eke out up to 500 kilometres on a single charge. At the top end of the spectrum, the company says both its STLA Large (Charger, Challenger et al.) and STLA Frame (again, pickups and large SUVs) vehicles will be able to drive an incredible 800 km on a single charge.

Now, while it’s often true that European efficiency ratings — the infamously optimistic WLTP standard — are more “forgiving” than those collected by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the claims proffered by Stellantis seem even more fantastical than usual. For instance, GMC claims a maximum of 560 klicks from the 200-kWh Ultium battery in its upcoming Hummer. That is some 30 per cent less than what Stellantis is imagining.

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A similar 800 km for a 118-kWh Dodge Charger — or whatever else fits under the definition of STLA Large — would mean a range efficiency virtually double that of Porsche’s topline Taycan 4S. Indeed, to boast 800 km out of just 118 kWh requires an energy efficiency of 14.75 kWh/100 km, unheard for a “large” vehicle, (which, by Stellantis’ definition, stretches anywhere between 4.7 to 5.4 metres long, which covers everything from a Alfa Romeo Stelvio to the new Jeep Grand Cherokee L).

More credible was the modular nature of its new electric drive modules (EDMs), which are available in both offset and coaxial guises and can be fitted to front-wheel-, rear-wheel-, and all-wheel-drive all-electric powertrains as well as Jeep’s burgeoning range of 4xe plug-in hybrids. Available as low as 70 kW (94 hp) for STLA Small cars and as powerful as 330 kW for STLA Large and Frame models, this could mean that — if it were to use these supersized EDMs front and rear — future electrified Challengers, Hellcats, and the like could boast as much as 885 hp. CEO Tim Kuniskis makes much of the fact that future battery-powered Challengers and Chargers will still “tear up the streets,” as he says, “but not the planet.”

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And it’s true that horsepower would go a long way toward retaining Dodge’s muscle car image. Anyone doubting the importance of performance to the brand should note that, according to Kuniskis, every time the company ups the horsepower of its already steroidal Hellcats and Demons, it gains market share. Two-second 100 km/h acceleration times should prove sufficiently stupid to accelerate the move to battery power.

Despite the incredible detail released, there were still some secrets to Stellantis’ plan. Foremost — because it’s related to those profit-generating Ram pickups — is something the company is calling its Range Electric Paradigm Breaker. Cognizant of the fact that heavy payloads and trailer towing kills even the most extravagant of efficiency claims, Ram is looking to extend the range of its trucks. Whether the REPB turns out to be just a smaller, more efficient pickup, a Chevy Bolt-like fossil-fueled range extender or some form of high-tech fuel cell trickery — Stellantis is working on FCEVs as well — is a flight of fancy for another day.

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Trickier to evaluate is Stellantis’ claim that it will make money during the transformation from ICE to EV. Despite all the “headwinds” he acknowledges face the industry’s race to electrification — the loss of government incentives as the technology matures prime amongst those — Tavares claims that profitability will increase from the nine per cent ICE-powered cars are currently generating to solid double-digit figures by 2030. This, despite having to produce gas-powered cars and EVs simultaneously.

The basis for this increased profitability is Tavares’ belief that Stellantis is 30 per cent more efficient in developing new products than anyone else in the industry. The obvious counter-argument would be that, while it may be true that Stellantis spends less on product development than any other automaker, cars like the original Fiat 500e — which the late FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne branded as nothing more than a “compliance car” — are not exactly shining examples of how to save money wisely. Nor is this the first time FCA has announced an electric revolution. Long forgotten is the stillborn Envi division that was once touted, as far back as 2007 , to be the future of the company’s electrification plans. The division was unceremoniously disbanded barely two years later.

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That said, Jeep’s new plug-in hybrids are going gangbusters. On the market just five short months, the Wrangler 4xe is already sold out until 2022, says CEO Christian Meunier, making it the most popular PHEV sport-brute in America. And although Tavares says that plug-in hybrids will only make up about 20 per cent of all Stellantis’ low-emissions electrified vehicles by 2030, they will probably play a huge part in Jeep’s future portfolio. On the other side of the pond, Peugeot’s electrified e-208 hatchback and e-2008 crossover stand near the top of their respective segments.

In other words, the company’s willingness to be so transparent with its plans suggests there’s more to this once-and-future rebirth than previous FCA — sorry, Stellantis — revolutions. There’s still more than enough bombast to go around, though.

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