Stellantis has unveiled STLA Medium, a global battery electric vehicle (BEV) platform. It’s the group’s first dedicated architecture for electric vehicles, dressed to rival MEB from the Volkswagen Group and the underpinnings from Tesla. The ambition for cars building on the architecture is to provide a best-in-class range of over 700 km.

STLA Medium is the first of four global BEV platforms set to be launched within two years after Stellantis CEO Carlo Tavares announced these at the EV Day presentation in July 2021. The first car model spawning from the new architecture will be the Peugeot 3008, and later its sister model 5008, arriving at the end of the year. The other brands from the group, Opel, Lancia, and Alfa Romeo, will obviously also get access to STLA Medium.

Performance or Standard

Launching the purpose-built platform is a watershed moment for Stellantis, as it can propel the group toward the heat of the EV race on a large scale. Or the forefront as the Performance version wants it, promising a range of a competitive 700 kilometers – a figure not matched by leading models like the Tesla Model 3 or Polestar 2.

The Standard pack can still parade itself on 500 kilometers. The mentioned battery pack with a net capacity of 98 kWh presumably applies to the Performance version, as the standard version usually keeps these sizes more modest.

Class-leading consumption?

As for charging, these new-generation BEVs rely on a 400-volt electric network, an industry standard that doesn’t compete with the 800-volt models the Hyundai group has been marketing for a while now. However, Stellantis promises consumption figures in line with the Korean’s reputed efficiency.

Depending on the application, consumption can be less than 14 kWh per 100 km, making it the best in class. But the proof is in the eating of the pudding, of course. Owners can take their battery from 20% to 80% charge in 27 minutes, a rate of 2.4 kWh per minute.

Also for offroad 

Stellantis will build front-drive and all-wheel-drive configurations on STLA Medium, with power outputs ranging from 160 to 285 kW. The wheelbase can range from 2 700 – 2 900 millimeters, and a maximum ground clearance of 220 millimeters supports offroad versions, a key ingredient for the popular sub-brand Jeep. As for digitalization, both software and firmware updates can be performed over the air.

Stellantis has also concluded a revised deal with the Canadian government to construct a battery factory in the country’s automotive hub in Ontario. Previous plans were halted because the Canadian decision-makers were accused of failing to fulfill their prior commitments.

As the dispute has been resolved, construction can restart “immediately”, according to Stellantis, aiming at a production launch as soon as next year. Canada falls under US President Joe Biden’s protectionist Inflation Reduction Act.

Bring city cars home

These foreign investments, triggered by nationalist incentives, have worried the French Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire. On Wednesday, he appealed to Stellantis CEO Carlo Tavares, who reigns over the French-rooted brands Peugeot, Citroën, and DS, to stop delocalization and bring home the production of small electric city cars.

Stellantis has committed to an investment in its French factories, but rather for compact SUVs. Small city cars, like the best-selling Peugeot 208, are built in Spain and Slovakia. Tavares demands more European efforts to strengthen local electric car production, as he considers the Commission to be “rolling out the red carpet for cheap electric cars from China”.