Stellantis
Canvas Category OEM : Automotive
Stellantis is a leading global mobility player guided by a clear mission: to provide freedom of movement for all through distinctive, appealing, affordable and sustainable mobility solutions. Our Company’s strength lies in the breadth of our iconic brand portfolio, the diversity and passion of our 300,000 people, and our deep roots in the communities in which we operate.
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Stellantis Invests Additional $55 Million In Archer Following Recent Flight Test Milestone
Stellantis N.V. and Archer Aviation Inc., a leader in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, announced Archer has received an additional $55 million investment from Stellantis under the companies’ strategic funding agreement following the achievement of its transition flight test milestone last month.
Archer remains on track to complete construction of its high-volume manufacturing facility in Georgia later this year. This first phase of the build out is a ~350,000 square foot facility on an ~100 acre site designed to support production of up to 650 aircraft annually, which would make it one of the largest manufacturing facilities by volume in the aircraft industry. Archer’s goal with this facility remains to establish a factory that can support its planned commercial ramp up by leveraging the expertise of Stellantis as its contract manufacturer.
Stellantis Ventures Invests in Tiamat and Affordable Sodium-Ion Battery Technology
Stellantis announced its participation as a strategic investor in Tiamat, a France-based company that is developing and commercializing sodium-ion battery technology. Sodium-ion technology offers a lower cost per kilowatt-hour and is free of lithium and cobalt. Abundantly available sodium offers benefits in increased sustainability and material sovereignty.
Tiamat is a spin-off of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and is leveraging its best-in-class innovations. The company will use proceeds from the fundraising round that includes Stellantis Ventures to launch construction of a sodium-ion battery plant in France for power tools and stationary storage applications first, and then targeting to scale-up production of second-generation products for BEV applications.
Niron Magnetics Secures $33M from Leading Automotive Manufacturers to Meet Growing Demand for Rare Earth-Free Magnets
Niron Magnetics, the company pioneering the world’s first high-performance, rare earth-free permanent magnets, today announced it has raised $33 million in additional funding, with new investments from leading automotive manufacturers, GM Ventures and Stellantis Ventures, and previous local investors, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) and the University of Minnesota (UMN), amongst other investors. This new financing will allow Niron to expand its current pilot production facilities and scale manufacturing capacity for exclusive customer programs and initial sales of its Clean Earth Magnet®.
Permanent magnets are essential components in all automobiles, fundamental to audio systems, fuel pumps, air circulation, electric vehicle (EV) drivetrains, and much more. As more cars are bought around the globe and demand surges for EVs, so does the demand for more stable and sustainable alternatives to rare-earth materials. This new round of funding will advance the commercialization of Niron’s Iron Nitride-based Clean Earth Magnets, which are environmentally sustainable, globally manufacturable, and made from stable supply inputs. Further, Niron’s alternative to rare-earth magnets promises improved temperature stability compared to other options currently available on the market, which is critical for automotive use.
🔋 Lyten Raises $200M in Series B Equity Round
Lyten, Inc, a pioneer in 3D graphene decarbonizing supermaterials, announced it has raised $200 million as part of its over-subscribed Series B funding round to scale manufacturing and commercialize its first three product lines: Lithium-Sulfur batteries, lightweighted composites, and next generation IoT sensors.
The round is led by Prime Movers Lab, a venture capital firm focused on investments in breakthrough scientific startups and has $1.2B in assets under management. Prime Movers Lab is joined with significant participation from strategic investors and sector leaders Stellantis (previously announced), FedEx Corporation, Honeywell, and Walbridge Aldinger Company. Additional strategic, venture capital and individual investors make up the remainder of the round.
In June, Lyten announced the opening of its first Lithium-Sulfur battery automated pilot plant in San Jose, CA. They are on target to produce commercial cells by year-end 2023 and begin shipping to early adopting customers for revenue in early 2024. The remaining space on the pilot line is expected to be allocated before the end of the year, including allocation to Stellantis and additional auto OEMs for cell testing. Lyten intends to break ground on scaled-up 3D Graphene and Lithium-Sulfur battery manufacturing facilities in 2024 in the US. Lyten targets a fully domestic supply chain to deliver Lithium-Sulfur batteries with greater energy density than lithium-ion but without NMC (nickel, manganese, cobalt) or graphite.
✈️ Archer Accelerates Path to Market: Secures $215M Investment From Stellantis, Boeing, United Airlines, ARK Invest and Others
Archer Aviation Inc. (NYSE: ACHR), a leader in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, today announced operating and financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023. In tandem with earnings, Archer made a series of announcements that reinforce its path to FAA certification and commercial operations in 2025. Archer has landed a $215 million equity investment from industry leaders Stellantis, Boeing and United Airlines, as well as other financial institutions, including ARK Invest, increasing the company’s total funding to over $1.1 billion to date, received FAA approval to begin flying its Midnight eVTOL aircraft, and reached an agreement with Boeing and Wisk to enter into an autonomous flight collaboration and settle litigation between the companies. Additionally, Archer announced that it is on track to complete what it believes will be the first ever eVTOL aircraft delivery to a customer as part of its recently announced contracts with the Department of Defense (DoD). These announcements come on the heels of the FAA Administrator leaving to join Archer and the DoD awarding Archer the largest total contract value of any eVTOL company.
Big Automakers Grab $1 Billion Deal for Urgently Needed Battery Metals
Volkswagen and Jeep maker Stellantis are each committing $100 million in a complicated transaction that will create a publicly traded mining company producing nickel and copper from two Brazilian mines that run on hydropower.
They are joining with a special-purpose acquisition company run by a well-known mining executive who hopes to do more deals to build a large battery-metals company. Mining giant Glencore is also putting in $100 million and has agreed to turn the nickel and copper from the mines into battery-grade material at processing facilities in Western Europe and North America that would qualify for subsidies in the U.S. and Europe.
Stellantis deepens ties with China's Miracle Automation for parts remanufacturing
Stellantis signed a memorandum of understanding with China-based Miracle Oruide Guangzhou Auto Parts Remanufacture on April 10. The Amsterdam-based carmaker is building a recycling network covering engines and EV batteries in China.
According to an announcement from Miracle Automation Engineering, Stellantis plans to invest in Miracle Oruide and hold 32% of the company’s shares based on the MoU. Miracle Automation, whose business focuses includes intelligent equipment and lithium-ion battery recycling, owns 41% of Miracle Oruide.
Miracle Oruide currently targets the remanufacturing of internal combustion engines, according to the announcement. Its pilot program for electromechanical product refabrication is verified by the Chinese government.
Collaborative Robots Help Fiat Ramp Up EV Production
To produce the 500 EV, the Mirafiori factory received a €700 million facelift, including state-of-the-art technology such as collaborative robots. To automate a series of complex assembly line operations and quality controls, Stellantis installed 11 cobots from Universal Robots A/S.
Some of the assembly processes required the introduction of specific automation technologies to ensure the quality and repeatability needed to meet product standards. Another criteria was ergonomics, because of the average age of operators at the Mirafiori facility. The collaborative applications have addressed operating precision and quality, in addition to improving a series of production tasks previously performed manually.
Stellantis Ventures Launches with €300 Million Fund to Propel Innovation Uptake
Stellantis today announced the launch of its first venture capital fund with the creation of Stellantis Ventures. The fund will initially invest €300 million in early and later-stage startup companies developing innovative, customer-centric technologies that could be deployed within the automotive and mobility sector.
Stellantis Ventures will act as a strategic investor and help startups integrate new technologies within the Company in compressed timeframes – allowing the adoption within months versus years. Investments will not only impact Stellantis’ efforts around sustainability, competitiveness, and in-vehicle technology but will also transform customer experiences around vehicle marketing, sales, and finance.
Stellantis Goes All-In With its Software Strategy
A transformative strategy is needed to manage software requirements for 14 distinct brands, perhaps the largest number of diverse brands of any auto OEM—across price range and vehicle segments ranging from consumer to commercial vehicles. This software complexity provides major cost savings and revenue opportunities after the software platform transformation is completed. The risk is significant development cost over the next four to five years.
Stellantis estimates that 80 percent of software platforms can be shared among brands, with 20 percent requiring brand-specific software—mostly related to user interfaces. Stellantis is clearly aiming to own a significant portion of its software value chain for all of its brands. Nearly all auto OEMs are on this path, adding software expertise to their core competencies.
A key software goal is decoupling software from hardware platforms. Hardware-software decoupling has become standard procedure due to its many advantages. The latest advantage is the potential to swap out chips when supply chains are disrupted.
How Ford, GM, FCA, and Tesla are bringing back factory workers
In the last week, factory employees have returned to work across the United States to make cars for the country’s four main auto manufacturers: Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and Tesla. And each of those companies has published a plan showing how it will try to keep those workers from contracting or spreading COVID-19.
Those plans largely take the same shape. They’re presented in glossy PDF pamphlets, each starting with a letter to employees from the respective company’s highest-ranking executive overseeing workplace safety. Like any corporate document, they occasionally get bogged down with platitudes. But they all largely describe a lot of the same basic precautions, including supplying employees with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like masks or enforcing physical distancing of at least six feet.