FCA Italy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and Engie EPS, an Italian technology specialist in energy storage and e-mobility, have entered into a memorandum of understanding for a joint venture, "to become a leader in the European e-mobility landscape", according to a statement.
The JV would rely on FCA's financial resources and industrial footprint and on Engie EPS' technological know-how and intellectual property portfolio, the statement added.
"The two companies join forces in order to move forward into the new era of a more sustainable mobility, offering innovative solutions and services to make access to electric mobility easy and convenient for everyone."
The JV would offer a full range of products and services for electric vehicle customers such as residential, business and public charging infrastructures as well as green energy packages, enabling charging at home and at any public charging point across Europe with a single subscription at a fixed monthly rate.
"A new Italian tech e-mobility player, with access to a portfolio of hundreds of patents and industrial secrets, a solid team of electrical and system engineers, and a consolidated automotive industrial footprint would thus emerge," the statement added. "The joint venture would benefit from the contribution of both parties in terms of intellectual property, human resources and financial assets, and would focus on innovative and disruptive solutions for the European e-mobility market.
"The envisaged transaction would represent an important strategic step in the evolution of the two groups' product portfolios and would set a major step towards elimination of barriers to the e-mobility transition in Europe."
"The signing of this MoU originates from a fruitful three-year cooperation between the two companies, which allowed the implementation of truly disruptive projects, such as the introduction of the exclusive FCA easyWallbox, an easy to use plug and play charging unit, the recently launched V2G pilot project and the innovative customer oriented energy packages," said FCA CEO Mike Manley.
"The envisioned joint venture would allow an even higher commitment from both parties to expand the scope of the existing cooperation and further develop innovative products and services to enable and support a smooth shift to electric mobility in Europe."
The two parties expect the signing of the full set of agreements by the end of 2020 and the incorporation of the JV in the first quarter of 2021.
