Stellantis has announced that almost every electric vehicle in its range will now be fitted with the cheapest battery technology the company could find, and that its engineers have been instructed to drive each new model on a closed test track for six weeks to prove the arrangement works. Staff at the group's Italian test centre say the programme has already consumed three runways and a hillside.
The decision was taken by a committee that spent eleven days in a hotel near Turin, where it concluded that customers who are willing to accept a little less range should be given the chance to accept a great deal less. Engineers were then sent to the company's plants with printed charts showing how many kilometres could be removed from each car before a driver noticed. A senior manager described the figure as «a number we are comfortable sharing with ourselves».
To demonstrate confidence, the company has organised a public tour in which a single electric van follows a route from Paris to Milan, stopping at every charging station that will accept it. Mechanics travel ahead on foot, carrying spare cables, and a relief driver walks the final forty kilometres while the van is pushed by volunteers from the local football club.
Dealers in the Netherlands have been told to hang a sign in every showroom reading «We Have Chosen Affordability For You». Several have complied, and one in Eindhoven has begun offering test drives only on Tuesdays, when the battery is at its most optimistic.