Drive Different – the exhibition that began yesterday at MAUTO in Turin, due to remain open to the public through April 7, 2024 – features Stellantis and its products and services, with a sizable and wide-ranging presence.
Starting from November 23, 1973 (when the Rumor government passed Decree-Law 304, relating to austerity measures), the exhibition questions the past and analyzes the challenges of the mobility of the future, inextricably linked to the sustainable development goals. In today’s complicated international context, transportation is one of the leading providers of solutions for environmental protection and ecological transition.
To encompass this complex 50-year period, the final room of the exhibition hosts the Lancia Beta Coupé (unveiled in 1973) side by side with the true icon of the exhibition, the Lancia Pu+Ra HPE: a manifesto of design, interior home feeling, sustainability, electrification, and effortless technology, with which the brand begins a new journey towards the future, inspired by the past. From the iconic round headlights that recall the legendary Stratos to the horizontal lines that echo the well-known venetian blind structure of the 1970s Lancia Beta HPE. A perfect symbiosis between the past and present, between purity and radicality, between innovation and emotion.
After all, who better than Lancia to tell the story of the Italian car? The brand’s history is made up of powerful values: on the one hand, beautiful cars with a timeless design; on the other, innovation and technology. This glorious legacy has resulted in the Lancia models of the future, in the name of sustainable design: modern cars made to get around the European cities of today and tomorrow, to revisit tradition and focus on sustainability.
Just as iconic is the presence of the FIAT brand, exhibiting the Topolino one-off designed with the special collaboration of the Disney artist Giorgio Cavazzano. The unique model is one of five Topolino one-offs created as a FIAT tribute to celebrate the 100th Disney anniversary.
Fiat Topolino is the electric quadricycle developed to continue the mission of the brand to provide sustainable mobility for the cities where electric driving becomes easy and accessible to all.
Fiat Topolino has all the basics for sustainable freedom in the city: reduced carbon footprint, reduced space footprint, reduced sound footprint. Its arrival will give rise to a new way of understanding urban mobility: sustainable, silent, safe, and stress-free.
For urban micromobility, on display in the halls of the Turin museum is the ‘500 Iride,’ an eScooter inspired by the 500 line-up and designed by the Fiat Centro Stile, intended to be placed and recharged directly in the trunk of the New 500: fast, comfortable, and portable, the 500 Iride is a proposal for individual and emission-free electric mobility.
Hailing from the Heritage Hub, on the other hand, is the floor of the Lancia Delta Integrale, compared with the platform of the new BEV cars. A means to provide visitors with an understanding of how cars change over the years and most of all of the advances in technology: radiators, fuel tanks, carburetors… The world has changed, and now the space on platforms is occupied by electric motors and battery packs.
It is indeed a battery pack that completes the story of electric mobility. On display at ‘Drive Different’ is the pack included in the Jeep Avenger, direct from the new Battery Technology Center at Mirafiori. The BTC (the largest in Italy and one of the biggest in Europe) tests and develops battery packs for electric vehicles, due to power the products in the Stellantis line-up of the future. The vertical integration of battery pack development, testing, manufacturing, and software management is an essential factor in the Stellantis strategy to deliver premium BEVs that meet customer expectations at a lower cost.
However, to drive electric cars without any issues and with no range anxiety, a widespread and fast charging system is essential. With Free2move Charge, Stellantis presents two solutions at the exhibition, one private and one public. eProWallbox is an ideal charging station for the home, with a flexible output of 7 to 22 kW, offering a wide range of connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G and Ethernet, so it can work even in areas with no signal. The touchscreen provides real-time information, while RFID technology enables authorized users to manage access.
Its other solution, ePublic is a robust and easy-to-maintain product, suitable for public and semi-public charging areas. It has two built-in type 2 sockets, to simultaneously charge two vehicles at up to 22 kW each. The dedicated Free2move Charge app ensures charging session management at any time.
Not only charging stations, but also innovative methods to charge electric cars while they are in use. A stretch of asphalt equipped with sensors at Drive Different sets out the “Arena del Futuro” (‘Arena of the Future’) project, whereby Stellantis, A35 BreBeMi and international partners demonstrate the ability of Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (DWPT) technology to charge electric vehicles wirelessly as they travel on dedicated, specially equipped lanes in the road.
Very soon, an electric car (such as the Fiat 500 configured to test the system) will be able to travel at the usual speed on a highway without consuming the energy stored in the battery, which will eliminate range anxiety and support both decarbonization and environmental sustainability.
Another opportunity for sustainable mobility is hydrogen. Stellantis also plays a leading role in this field and presents in the halls of MAUTO the first hydrogen-powered van from an automaker: the Opel Vivaro-e HYDROGEN. Hydrogen is beginning a new chapter in the Stellantis strategy aiming at sustainable mobility, with the benefits of hydrogen fuel cell propulsion, bringing zero-emission mobility with vans from the various brands into the future, especially for commercial use.
The habits of people who live in and move around cities and their mobility needs are changing: as a result of its innovative car sharing and mobility offers, Free2move customers are supported in their freedom of movement and their travel is made easier, with a complete mobility offering available for periods from a few minutes to days, months or even years. Free2move is a true international leader in mobility that sets out at MAUTO another change that has been taking place in recent years.
To conclude the wide-ranging Stellantis display, the Formula E DS E-Tense FE23 single seater that took part in the world championship for electric single seaters, a competition that has been foreshadowing the future of motorsport for a decade now. The car on display is a true leap ahead into the future for electric mobility, in terms of how it sets out solutions and proposals soon to become available for everyday cars too. For example, the energy recovery capacity (not only when braking but also during use) is very high, together with the possibility of a much longer range. DS will be competing in the 2024 World Championship with an outstanding list of successes behind it, the team’s single seaters having previously won two titles each for both drivers and teams.
Open to the public through April 7, 2024, the intention of the ‘Drive Different’ exhibition is to highlight how the freedom automobiles have provided in the past is still relevant, when smartly adapted to changing needs, situations, and places. The products and materials on display in the present and future section set out how the mindset taken on by a manufacturer like Stellantis to approach mobility is crucial in a world that has no more time to wait. It also notes that the 50 years ahead of us will be very different from the last half-century, at least in terms of mobility.
SOURCE: Stellantis
