Stellantis opens new battery safety Lab in Belchamp: A major step for EV safety

The transition to electric mobility is one of the most significant technological challenges in contemporary automotive history. While the adoption of battery-powered vehicles is growing rapidly, safety remains a central concern for both manufacturers and future buyers. Occasionally, news reports highlight risks related to battery fires during isolated incidents. Although these events remain extremely rare compared to the total number of vehicles on the road, they demand constant vigilance and absolute engineering rigor. To prevent such risks and ensure optimal protection for users across all group brands, Stellantis has established a unique laboratory. The result of a massive €7 million investment, this state-of-the-art facility marks a decisive step in the internal mastery of energy storage technologies.

A cutting-edge facility at the heart of the Belchamp testing center

Within the confidential and strategic setting of the Belchamp Testing Center in eastern France, Stellantis has chosen to house its new technological flagship: the Battery Safety Lab. Officially inaugurated by Alain Guibouret, Head of Western Europe Technical Centers, this laboratory is a world-first within the Stellantis organization. Its opening marks the culmination of a major industrial project that required two years of intensive work. The project involved the expertise of 50 specialized companies, mostly from the local Franche-Comté region, highlighting the manufacturer's deep industrial roots in this historic automotive hub.

The primary mission of the Battery Safety Lab is to conduct advanced testing on batteries for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles across all the group's brands. In a context of increasingly strict global regulations, having such a tool in-house provides a major strategic advantage. It allows Stellantis to manage the entire certification process and verify the regulatory compliance of its models without relying on external providers. This laboratory is specifically designed to simulate and manage critical situations that vehicles should never encounter during normal use, such as thermal runaway or direct resistance to intense heat sources. By internalizing these critical tests, the group ensures greater agility in developing future models while guaranteeing safety levels that often exceed legal requirements.

The two pillars of research: thermal propagation and fire resistance

The Battery Safety Lab does more than just observe battery behavior under standard conditions; it pushes components to their absolute limits through two fundamental research axes. The first axis focuses on thermal propagation. Current European regulations are extremely strict, requiring that a battery pack must not ignite within five minutes of detecting an unforeseen thermal runaway. This timeframe is crucial to allow occupants to exit the vehicle safely. To validate this resistance, Belchamp engineers intentionally trigger the runaway of a single cell within the pack by overheating it. The goal is to prove that the pack's design prevents heat from spreading immediately to other cells. At the first sign of controlled flames, the battery pack is instantly submerged in a safety tank to stop any chemical reaction. Approximately 50 such tests are conducted annually, providing invaluable data for the continuous improvement of protective casings.

The second research axis focuses on fire resistance from an external source. Here, the protocol simulates direct and then indirect exposure of the battery pack to a fire for a duration exceeding two minutes. To carry out these spectacular but essential experiments, the laboratory features extraordinary infrastructure. This includes a 40-meter integrated test platform capable of accommodating both individual batteries and complete vehicles. Additionally, a 60-cubic-meter immersion tank can instantly extinguish induced fires and drastically limit the spread of toxic smoke. Operator safety is also a top priority, with advanced remote control systems, sophisticated emergency stops, and a high-performance air treatment system to filter emissions generated during testing.

A strategic investment for the future of R&D in France

The opening of the Battery Safety Lab confirms Stellantis' commitment to maintaining its technological investments on French soil. As the global automotive industry undergoes a profound transformation, France remains a central pillar for the group, hosting 22% of its global Research and Development workforce. Between centers in the Paris region and those in Franche-Comté, thousands of engineers and technicians work daily to invent the mobility of tomorrow. As Alain Guibouret emphasized during the inauguration, this €7 million investment is strategic for the French ecosystem, strengthening the group's leadership in battery safety and sustainable mobility.

By mastering the entire testing chain, from design to final certification, Stellantis ensures that every electric vehicle leaving its factories meets the highest safety standards in the world. For customers, this approach offers peace of mind. It turns the promise of electric vehicles into a tangible and reliable reality, where environmental performance never comes at the expense of passenger safety. This new laboratory in Belchamp is more than just a testing center: it is the guardian of the trust that drivers can place in their future electrified vehicles.