Volkswagen Group and SEAT have announced they want to form a European electric vehicle hub in Spain with battery cell production and create a fully sustainable emobility ecosystem.
The ‘Future Fast Forward’ program would include a total investment of more than €7 billion (£5.8 billion/£7.7 billion) together with external suppliers along the entire emobility chain.
Volkswagen Group also announced its plans to build a new electric vehicle (EV) battery Gigafactory factory in Valencia. This would be Volkswagen’s second location after Salzgitter and the first one outside of Germany.
Volkswagen aims for a production capacity of 40GWh annually and plans to employ more than 3,000 people in Valencia. This would be a major boost to the area.
Thomas Schmall, member of the Volkswagen AG Board of Management responsible for Technology and chairman of the SEAT S.A. Board of Directors, said: “This project is highly important – for Volkswagen, for Spain, and for the whole of Europe.
“It’s our ambition to electrify Spain and we are willing to invest more than seven billion euro together with external suppliers for the electrification of our Martorell and Pamplona plants and the localisation of the battery value chain in Valencia.”
Wayne Griffith, SEAT president, said: “Future Fast Forward has the potential to transform the Spanish automotive industry and democratise electric mobility across Europe.
“The more than 7 billion euros Volkswagen Group and SEAT S.A. would mobilise for Future: Fast Forward would represent the largest industrial investment in Spanish history.”
Schmall added: “In Valencia, we are planning to build up nothing less than next-generation cell production: A standardised factory, producing Volkswagen’s cutting-edge unified cell and supplied with renewable energy, enabling a sustainable battery production. It will create a strong pulling effect in the whole battery value chain in Spain and beyond.”
In total, Volkswagen plans to build six Gigafactories in Europe with an annual capacity of 240GWh together with partners. The group’s demand for premium cells will be met by Northvolt in Skellefteå, Sweden.
