FCA To Build New Battery Hub At Its Turin Factory

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is set to construct a new battery assembly complex at its Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy through an initial €50 million ($56 million) investment.

Work on the new battery hub will start in early 2020 as part of the car manufacturer’s e-mobility strategy. FCA says the hub will be located in a specially designed building at the Mirafiori site and include the use of collaborative robots working hand-in-hand with operators.

In addition, FCA’s battery hub will include an advanced technology center dedicated to quality control and testing of the components provided by industry-leading suppliers. There will also be “state-of-the-art electronically-controlled systems” used to test the efficiency of the batteries. Spaces to provide training courses, prototyping, and experimentation will also be designed into the complex.

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“The automotive industry is undergoing a period of profound change and one of the major trends is closely linked to electrification,” chief operating officer for FCA’s EMEA Region Pietro Gorlier said. “With its new car battery assembly center at Mirafiori, FCA accelerates its drive to electrify, adding now another element to the ‘ecosystem’ that starts from supply chain and ends with customer support. A journey passing through the recent partnerships on recharging infrastructure, Vehicle-to-Grid and services to support customers of hybrid and full electric cars, from Italy to the rest of the world.”

The announcement for this battery hub comes a few months after FCA revealed it will start construction of an all-electric Fiat 500 at the Mirafiori plant in the second quarter of 2020. Roughly 1200 people will be dedicated to the production of this vehicle with a planned production cap at 80,000 units per year and the potential to increase production in the future. FCA is investing more than €5 billion ($5.56 billion) in Italy over the 2019-2021 period to introduce a selection of new hybrid and electric models.