Stellantis has recently announced they will invest 155 million dollars overall in three factories at Kokomo, in Indiana, for the manufacturing of new electric drive modules (EDM) that will allow powering the electric vehicles that will be assembled in North America. The aim is hitting the target of satisfying 50% of sales in the United States with battery electric vehicles by 2030.
With over 25 releases of battery electric vehicles (BEV) planned in the United States from now until 2030, the EDM produced at Kokomo will be integrated into the vehicles based on STLA Large and STLA Frame platforms. EDM represents a complete solution for electric powertrains and is constituted by three main components – electric motor, power and transmission electronics – enclosed in a single module to offer better performances and autonomy at competitive costs. The new optimized EDM will allow each platform to reach up to 500 miles (800 kilometres) of autonomy.
Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, stated: «While we are successfully continuing our transition towards a decarbonized future in our activities in Europe, we are now setting up these same base elements for the North American market. Joining the advantages of EDM with the new BEV platforms and innovative batteries, we will be able to offer a variety of electric vehicles with unequalled performances and autonomy, at cheaper prices, to our customers. Besides, due to our in-house manufacturing skills and to our competence, we will succeed in doing that in extremely flexible and efficient manner».
Investments will concern Indiana Transmission, Kokomo Transmission and Kokomo Casting plants. The gearbox cover will be moulded at Kokomo Casting factory and machined by Kokomo Transmission plant. The gear machining and the final assembly will take place at Indiana Transmission Plant. The production start is scheduled in the third quarter of 2024, after the reconversion of plants.
Since 2020, Stellantis has invested almost 3.3 billion dollars in Indiana to promote the transition towards the electrification. This also includes an investment worth 643 million dollars, recently announced, for the production of a new motor for traditional and PHEV applications, a state-of-the-art eight-speed transmission and a gigafactory in joint venture with Samsung SDI.
