The "Battery Hub" project for the assembly of batteries, with which the FCA group pushes the activities for electric mobility, will start in the first part of 2020 in Mirafiori.
The batteries will find application on the new generations of full electric models and Comau will be a partner in the initiative thanks to its expertise in assembly. In a first phase, the planned investment will be around 50 million euros. This was announced by the car manufacturer which intends to add "a new piece in its e-Mobility strategy" after the agreements on the electrification-related services front. In recent months, FCA has signed various partnerships ranging from recharging infrastructure to those for customers of hybrid and full electric cars. Also in Turin, FCA and Terna have signed an agreement on Vehicle to Grid to start the tests on electric car and network of national electricity transmission.
“The automotive industry – said Pietro Gorlier, COO of the EMEA Region of FCA – is undergoing profound change. Thanks to the construction of the new battery assembly center in Mirafiori, FCA accelerates the push towards electrification by adding a new piece to the "ecosystem" that starts from the supply chain to get to customer support".
FCA is betting a lot on the Battery Hub project and intends to create a real battery assembly center in a dedicated building, with potential for expansion for future projects. The most advanced technologies will be used with modular and flexible processes, also with the use of collaborative robots in symbiosis with the operators.
The new "Battery Hub" will also have training tasks and will be responsible for testing prototypes and carrying out experimentation activities, with quality control tests on both strategic components and on batteries once assembled.
The announcement of the new battery center follows shortly after that of the new electric propulsion 500 that the Mirafiori plant will produce starting from the second quarter of 2020. Approximately 1.200 people will be dedicated to the production of the car and the production capacity of the line will be 80.000 units. year, with the possibility of being increased. Finally, it should be remembered that FCA has also announced that the new GranTurismo and GranCabrio will be the first Maserati models to adopt 100% electric solutions and that they will be produced at the Turin production hub.
Today in Turin - between Mirafiori and Grugliasco - around 20.000 people work among production workers and related engineering and design, sales, financial services and spare parts activities. Overall, finally, FCA will invest over 2019 billion euros in the 2021-5 plan for Italy, with the introduction of 13 totally new or profoundly renewed models, and the launch of an offer electrification plan, with the 'inclusion in the range of 12 electric versions of new or existing models.
"In another day full of political promises, the implementation of FCA's investments to give life to the electricity hub in Mirafiori continues," said Claudio Chiarle, general secretary of Fim-Cisl Turin and Canavese. “The Battery Hub – he underlined – will be the next step and certainly not the last to implement FCA's industrial plan which, started years ago and adapted to the evolution of the world car market, including its profound crises, we have shared as Fim”.
