NEWS
FCA and Groupe PSA agree on name for new group Partners will operate under the star-influenced title, STELLANTIS In a major step as FCA and the France-based Groupe PSA move towards the completion of the 50:50 merger announced last December, the two have agreed that the corporate name of the new entity will be STELLANTIS. The name is rooted in the Latin verb “stello” meaning “to brighten with stars”. A spokesperson for the proposed group says: “STELLANTIS draws inspiration from this new and ambitious alignment of storied automotive brands and strong company cultures that, in coming together, are creating one of the new leaders in the next era of mobility while at the same time preserving all the exceptional value and the values of its constituent parts. “STELLANTIS will combine the scale of a truly global business with an exceptional breadth and depth of talent, knowhow and resource capable of providing the sustainable mobility solutions for the coming decades. The name’s Latin origins pays tribute to the rich history of
its founding companies while the evocation of astronomy captures the true spirit of optimism, energy and renewal driving this industrychanging merger.” The process of identifying the new name began soon after the combination agreement was announced and the senior management of both companies have been closely involved throughout, supported by Publicis Group. The STELLANTIS name will be used exclusively at group level, as a corporate brand. The names and the logos of the STELLANTIS Group’s constituent brands will remain unchanged. The merger is expected to complete in the first quarter of next year (2021), subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by both companies’ shareholders at their respective extraordinary general meetings and the satisfaction of anti-trust and other regulatory requirements.
V2G plant will be the world’s largest FCA teams up with Engie Eps on vehicle-to-grid infrastructure
FCA has chosen Engie Eps to be its technology partner for the carmaker’s vehicle-to-grid (V2G) pilot project and work has begun at the carmaker’s plant in Mirafiori, Turin, on the first phase. The work is being carried out in full compliance with the safety standards to contain the Covid-19 epidemic and, once complete, it will form the largest plant of its kind in the world. Since the announcement with Terna in September of the intention to jointly experiment with interactions between electric cars and the power grid, based on a ‘smart’ charging infrastructure, FCA has selected Engie Eps to build that infrastructure. The work will see two-way interaction between FCA fullelectric vehicles and the power grid. In addition to recharging the cars, the project will use the batteries to provide grid stabilisation services. The vehicle batteries are capable of
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storing energy and, using the V2G infrastructure, can return it to the grid when needs be. This represents an opportunity to optimise the operating costs of the cars – for the benefit of drivers and fleet decisionmakers – and a concrete possibility of contributing to a more sustainable electricity system. The construction site for phase 1 of the project is now open at the Drosso logistics centre, within the Mirafiori complex. The works cover approximately 3,000sq m with 450m of trenches already excavated, ready to host more than 10km (six miles) of the cables required to interconnect the electricity grid with 64 two-way fast charging points, with an output of up to 50kW. In its final configuration, the project will be capable of supplying up to 25mW of regulatory capacity, making it the largest V2G facility ever built.
