10 bn EUR investment in Spain “The €10 billion investment will electrify Spain, which is the Europe’s second-largest automotive manufacturing country. Thanks to the investment, we can create a battery […]
“The €10 billion investment will electrify Spain, which is the Europe’s second-largest automotive manufacturing country. Thanks to the investment, we can create a battery gigafactory in Sagunto. As a result, it will enable production of electric vehicles at the Martorell and Pamplona plants, and build a rich supplier ecosystem. This is the largest industrial investment ever made in Spain,” said Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen Group.
The meeting took place in Parc Sagunt II (Valencia), where the Volkswagen Group will locate the country’s first giga-cell factory. Building the cell factory is one of the core elements of Future: Fast Forward. 62 national and international companies had applied for the “Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation” for electric and connected vehicles (PERTE VEC).
“The Volkswagen Group, SEAT SA and the Spanish government share a vision: to make Spain a European hub for electromobility. We are ready to start this transformation. PERTE is a model for the whole of Spain on how to transform traditional industrial structures,” added Diess.
The Gigafactory will have an annual production capacity of 40 GWh and will supply the plants in Martorell and Pamplona with this total volume. The site will employ more than 3,000 people by 2030 and cover an area of 200 hectares. Construction of the Gigafactory will begin in the first quarter of 2023, with start of production planned for 2026.
The first milestone must be a commitment to the PERTE application and the finalization of all approvals: “We will build the battery Gigafactory with an investment of more than three billion euros. But the PERTE funds are essential if we are to achieve our goal of making Spain a European hub for electric vehicles,” said Thomas Schmall.
“The battery factory in Sagunto will occupy a 200-hectare site and will be the third of the group’s six Gigafactories in Europe. When ramping up battery production in Spain and Europe, sustainability and a closed value-added cycle are very important to us. With power supply from renewable energies, a local-for-local approach and the recovery of valuable raw materials on site, our new factory in Valencia will be a blueprint for the circular economy,” says Schmall.
We think that we are living in climate change era. For example, we feel that 2020 is the year to raise our awareness on climate change. Due to media and governmental decisions, many people are getting to feel that EVs are necessary for our life and society. It is true that the production of EVs needs rare metals and emits greenhouse gases during its process. Therefore, some people think that EVs are not eco-friendly.
However, many countries and cities made a decision to increase the ratio of EVs in terms of new car sales. Therefore, this trend, which is the increase of EVs, cannot be stopped. It may be time for us to think how to transform the industry. In this sense, Volkswagen is correct, and supports from each government are very important. We will continue monitoring how Volkswagen, SEAT and the Spanish government make the country a European hub for Electric Vehicles.
