The Volkswagen Group has just confirmed that the third battery factory it will build in Europe (out of a total of six) will be located in Spain, thus putting an end to the Portuguese “hopes” of being able to house this gigantic factory.
It is recalled that about four months ago, during its first Power Day, the Volkswagen Group had announced plans to open six battery factories for electric vehicles in Europe by 2030 and that one of them was going to be established in the western part of Europe. Europe, that is, or in Portugal, Spain or France.
But now, during the announcement of the new “New Auto” strategic plan, the Volkswagen Group has confirmed that the third European battery factory will be set up in Spain, a country that the German group identifies as “a strategic pillar of its electric campaign”.
When completed, these six gigafactories will have a total production capacity of 240 GWh. The first will be located in Skellefteå, Sweden, and the second in Salzgitter, Germany. The latter, located near Wolfsburg, is under construction. The first, in northern Europe, already exists and will be updated to increase its capacity.
As for the third, which will be assembled in Spain, it may receive, as early as 2025, the entire production of the group's Small BEV family (compact electric vehicles).
Herbert Diess, executive director of the Volkswagen GroupSpain could become a strategic pillar of our electrical strategy. We are ready to establish the entire electric mobility value chain in the country, including the production of electric vehicles as well as their components and a new battery factory for the Group. Depending on the general context and public sector support, from 2025 the Small BEV family can be manufactured in Spain.
For this, the Volkswagen Group and SEAT SA “are willing to cooperate with the Spanish Government to transform the country into a leading pole of electric mobility and, therefore, will apply to participate in the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation ( PERTE)".
Wayne Griffiths, Executive Director of SEAT and CUPRAOur aim is to cooperate with the government to transform the country into a European hub for electric mobility and the SEAT S.A. factory in Martorell into a 100% electric vehicle factory. The Iberian Peninsula is key to achieving climate-neutral mobility in Europe by 2050.
It is recalled that last March, in the annual results presentation, SEAT SA presented an ambitious plan, called Future: Fast Forward, with the objective of leading the electrification of the automobile industry in Spain, through the production of urban electric vehicles in the country from 2025.
For this, SEAT S.A. wants to launch on the market an urban electric car in 2025 that is capable of making sustainable mobility massively accessible to the population, for which it will have a “final price of around 20-25 000 euros”.