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The
unit will offer a platform called Free2move Charge providing
customer services including access to over 500,000 charging
points in Europe "through partners" by the end of this year, the
company said, as a still insufficient charging network across
the industry created 'charging anxiety' for all drivers of
electric vehicles (EVs).
The world's third largest carmaker by sales however reiterated
that it was still evaluating Tesla's charging standard after
rivals including Ford and General Motors signed deals to adopt
it in North America.
"We look forward to discussing more of that soon," Ricardo
Stamatti, senior vice president of the new Charging & Energy
Business Unit, said.
Stellantis, whose brands include Jeep, Ram, Peugeot, Fiat and
Opel, has plans for 100% of its European passenger car sales and
50% of its U.S. passenger car and light-duty truck sales to be
battery EVs by 2030.
The group sees business opportunities from operating charging
stations, Stamatti said.
"The margin on energy (used for charging points) itself is
fairly rich," he said.
"But ultimately charging is going to be more than energy, it's
going to be about what people do while charging (...), think of
advertising, retail, media consumption".
The Free2move Charge "ecosystem" will offer other services for
private customers of Stellantis brands including support for
home charging facility installation, and for businesses.
It will also allow access to a network of public charging points
"through partners" in North America, Europe, and other regions
to be announced later, Stellantis said.
Investments will be significant while key partners will include
energy companies, retailers, hardware manufacturers and
utilities, he added. More details will be provided over the
course of 2023, including for the business unit's financial
targets.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Keith Weir and Susan
Fenton)
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