Stellantis long-term plan includes electric Jeeps and hydrogen Ram pickups

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated the year the compact Jeep EV would go into production in Poland.

AMSTERDAM — Jeep's electric future finally has a face.

Stellantis revealed an image of the adventure brand's first battery-electric vehicle Tuesday during the rollout of the automaker's long-term strategic plan that covers the rest of the decade.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the electric crossover will support Jeep's "worldwide quest towards zero-emission freedom." It's slated to arrive in the first half of 2023.

"Electrification will amplify Jeep's core brand attributes: capability, open-air freedom, fun and style," Tavares said as he detailed the automaker's Dare Forward 2030 plan, including a goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2038.

The upcoming electric Jeep was just one piece of the automaker's aggressive vision that will center on environmental stewardship as Stellantis seeks to be a champion in the climate change fight. The strategy also calls for a continued diversity push with a commitment for women to hold 35 percent of leadership roles.

Tavares said the plan calls for BEVs to make up all of the company's sales in Europe and at least half in the U.S. by 2030. Stellantis said it aims to have more than 75 battery-electric models globally before the end of the decade and to reach global annual BEV sales of 5 million in that period.

"We are ready to do our part in protecting humans from the negative effects we are already seeing from climate change," Tavares said. "This is our promise to society. Reaching the carbon net zero objective by 2038 is a daring challenge; a daring challenge we are proud to lead."

The company's other goals in the plan are to double net revenue by 2030 and sustain double-digit adjusted operating income margins.

Another Stellantis goal is to be No. 1 in customer satisfaction for its products and services in every market.

Tavares said the automaker will do this by "reshaping the customer experience" in hopes of improving all key performance indicators by 2024. Stellantis will "use the big data to reduce our time to fix by 50 percent."

"We are spending significant time thinking about and building technologies to make it easier for customers to interact with the Stellantis universe," Tavares said.

The rush of zero-emission models will see the debut of a hydrogen-powered Ram Heavy Duty pickup later in the decade. The electric Ram 1500 is slated to hit the market before then, in 2024.

The pickup will build on the progress Stellantis is making with hydrogen vans in Europe. Tavares said initial feedback on the vans has been "positive thanks to the three-minute fast refueling, 400 kilometers of driving range, and we already have a good level of orders."

Tavares said the fuel cell electric vehicles are "particularly suited to the needs of commercial vehicle customers requiring long range, fast refueling and zero emission without compromising payload capacity."

Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions, said the drawback of fuel cell vehicles at this point is the lack of infrastructure for hydrogen. But he said they would be ideal for commercial fleets.

"You could potentially store hydrogen on sites that you could use and not have to use a built-in infrastructure," Fiorani said. "Putting it on a passenger vehicle, a consumer vehicle, doesn't make a lot of sense because there are literally only seven or eight fueling stations in all of California. So rolling something like that out nationwide would be a big problem. There's access to hydrogen, it's just not accessible to the general public."

Jeep is forecasting that it will offer zero-emission variants in every SUV segment by 2025.

After the first fully electric Jeep comes out next year, Stellantis said the brand will launch battery-electric options soon after in 2024 in what it calls the "pure offroad" and "lifestyle family" categories.

In all, Tavares said Stellantis will offer more than 25 BEVs across its U.S. portfolio by 2030.

Fiorani believes the compact Jeep EV shown Tuesday will be built in Poland and go into production in 2022.

"If you are a Jeep fan, and you're true to the outdoor life, the lack of air pollution and noise pollution that is provided by an electric vehicle should come as a benefit to off-roading," Fiorani said. "The old saying [is] 'Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footsteps.' Leave no emissions as well."