Construction is beginning to take shape at the North America Battery Technology Centre at Stellantis Automotive Research and Development Centre complex in Windsor.
The first steel columns have started to be installed, and the facility will enable in-house testing and development of electric vehicle battery packs for upcoming Stellantis brand products.
The Battery Technology Centre at ARDC, located at 3939 Rhodes Drive in Windsor, will serve as the hub for all Stellantis EV battery testing in North America.
Part of the testing includes for the battery packs to go through a climatic operation range of -40 degrees Celsius to +80 degree Celsius.
The new Battery Technology Centre will also build on the ARDC’s academic partnership with the University of Windsor on various testing projects.
Speaking on AM800’s The Shift, Tony Mancina, Head of Canada Engineering with Stellantis, says everything is right on track.
“So we should have some good opportunities by the end of this year for some early test opportunities, just to test the equipment out. We’ll be finishing the main construction by mid-next year, and then we’ll be operational by the first quarter of 2025.”
He says the testing of the packs is crucial.
“We’ll have to conduct some extremely rigorous and extreme environmental durability testing, life cycle tests, and system tests. We have to make sure that what when these battery packs are in our vehicles that it meets all the demands that a customer will expect for their vehicle to perform the way that we want it to perform.”
Mancina says this is a big deal for the Windsor region.
“So we’ll be able to be involved in every single vehicle that’s actually made in North America. For us, I think it’s quite exciting. Of course we’ve got the great investments at both of our manufacturing facilities at Windsor and Brampton, and this is something that will expand our reach beyond Canada and we’ll be the experts when it comes to battery electric vehicle testing and development.”
Construction is expected to be completed in mid-2024 with full-scale operations scheduled to begin for the first quarter of 2025 and will create an estimated 55 new highly qualified positions that will consist of engineers and technicians onsite.
The Battery Technology Centre is part of the major $3.6-billion investment Stellantis announced in May 2022, with support from all three levels of government.