Stellantis has announced investments of over $406 million in its multi-energy strategy across three facilities in Michigan. The company also confirmed that the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant will be the first Stellantis location in the United States to build a fully electric vehicle.
The Ram 1500 REV, scheduled for launch in late 2024, and the all-new 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger will be built alongside combustion engine models at the Sterling Heights plant. Additional investments will involve converting the Warren Truck Assembly Plant to produce the electrified Jeep Wagoneer and the Dundee Engine Plant to manufacture battery trays and battery sandblasting for the STLA Frame and STLA Large platforms.
The investments support Stellantis’ multi-energy technology and production flexibility
“The Sterling Heights Assembly Plant has undergone an incredible transformation in record time. I would like to thank all colleagues for this great achievement,” said Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis. “Preparing to produce our first electric Ram truck and the range extender variant in Michigan is a moment of pride for our teams. These investments, benefiting both Jeep and Ram, will provide our Michigan manufacturing facility with innovations that will support our multi-energy strategy. This is clearly based on customer needs.”
The investments will significantly contribute to the implementation of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, under which Stellantis aims to shape the mobility of the future by providing innovative, clean, safe, and affordable solutions. The multi-energy strategy encompasses products, platforms, production, and supply chains, enabling Stellantis to adapt to a variety of electrification scenarios.
With an investment of $235.5 million, the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant will build Stellantis’ first battery-electric light-duty pickup truck: the 2025 Ram 1500 REV. The Ram 1500 REV was unveiled at the 2023 New York Auto Show and will be on sale in late 2024. The factory will also build the new 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger with range extender.
In line with Sterling Heights Assembly Plant’s production strategy of producing vehicles with different types of propulsion simultaneously, teams built BEV-specific installations in two planned shutdown weeks and, thanks to their ingenuity, completed the work ahead of schedule.
Stellantis collaborated with equipment suppliers and contractors to carefully plan and implement the installation of a new assembly line system with automated processes specific to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), as well as modernizing and redesigning workstations for general assembly work. This means that combustion engine, BEV, and range extender variants can now be produced on the same assembly line.
The Ram 1500 REV is based on the new STLA Frame architecture for large electric vehicles, where the body is mounted on a chassis. This is a new type of frame made of high-strength steel, lightweight yet rigid and durable thanks to the latest materials. The STLA frame is wider in the center to efficiently accommodate the battery pack while leveraging the protection of the frame rails. With the optional 229 kWh battery pack, the REV achieves a range of up to 500 miles (about 800 kilometers). The standard 168 kWh battery pack offers a range of up to 350 miles (560 kilometers).
The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger‘s engine delivers 663 horsepower and 834 Newton meters of torque, allowing it to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4 seconds. It also offers 6.3 tons of towing capacity. It is equipped with a 92 kWh battery paired with a 130 kW integrated generator that sends energy to the 250 kW front and 238 kW rear electric drive modules (EDMs). Bi-directional vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-home charging gives the Ram 1500 Ramcharger the flexibility to charge another Stellantis battery-powered electric vehicle or add energy to the grid.
Warren Truck Assembly Plant will invest approximately $97.6 million to produce the future electrified Jeep Wagoneer, one of four electric Jeep models set to launch worldwide by the end of 2025. The electric models are produced on the same line as the combustion models of Jeep Wagoneer and Wagoneer L and Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer L.
With an investment of over $73 million, Dundee Engine Plant will be reorganized to assemble, weld, and test battery trays for the STLA Frame architecture and manufacture the front and rear frames for the STLA Large architecture. Production will begin in 2024 and 2026, respectively. The new components are being developed alongside the GME-T4 EVO, which will be launched on the market by the end of the year, and the new 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder turbocharged engine with direct injection. The plant is designed flexibly so that hybrid-electric (HEV) variants can also be built, with market entry planned for 2025.
Stellantis will invest more than $50 billion in electrification this decade to achieve the goals of its strategic plan: by 2030, 100% of passenger car sales in Europe and 50% of passenger car and light commercial vehicle sales in the United States will be BEVs. To achieve these sales targets, the company is securing about 400 GWh of battery capacity, supplied by battery factories in North America and Europe.