VOLKSWAGEN: A NEW BATTERY PRODUCTION SITE IN SPAIN
The new battery manufacturing facility for the German firm has just begun building in Valencia, Spain. The second battery production facility for PowerCo, a VW Group company focused on projects involving batteries for electric vehicles, has officially broken ground in Valencia, Spain.
King Philip VI of Spain, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and President of the Valencian Generalitat Ximo Puig were all in attendance on this occasion.
“We have just laid the foundation stone for the second PowerCo gigafactory in Valencia, and we are taking one more step by announcing the construction of another gigafactory in Saint-Thomas, Canada. Our goal is to make PowerCo a global player in batteries and lead the way to better mobility with sustainably produced battery cells. The Valencia gigafactory is an essential milestone on this path ,” said Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of the Volkswagen Group and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of PowerCo.
Volkswagen: Spain produces sustainable batteries
This massive battery facility is now being built on a 200-hectare site in Sagunto, close to Valencia. Initially, the site’s yearly production capacity will be 40 GWh, but PowerCo intends to raise it to 60 GWh. PowerCo will build a business park there in addition to the factory, which will take up about 130 hectares and house the site’s suppliers.
The decision to locate in the Valence region was influenced by a number of factors, including the low cost of green electricity, the presence of a regional center for research and innovation, a good transportation system, and the region’s proximity to other Volkswagen Group production facilities in Spain. So, the Volkswagen facilities in Martorell and Navarra will receive unified battery cells from the Valencia gigafactory (Pamplona).
The PowerCo plant in Valence is designed to produce environmentally friendly batteries; in fact, it will be entirely powered by green electricity generated by wind and solar energy, thanks to a 250-hectare solar power plant nearby.
The utilization of raw materials will be circular and closed-loop on the production site.
Volkswagen’s gigafactory is set to open in 2026.
The Sagunto (Valencia) factory in Spain will produce the first sustainable unified cells starting in 2026. This website is a component of a 10-billion-euro investment initiative that the German group unveiled last year.
In order to produce electric vehicles under the Seat and Cupra brands, as well as VW ID and Audi, the Volkswagen group has also planned to modify its automobile facilities in Martorell and Pamplona.
PowerCo will be in charge of the VW Group’s global battery activities, including the research of batteries, supply of raw materials, and the setup and management of gigafactories.
A strategic endeavor for the German firm that should produce a more than 20 billion euro annual turnover by 2030.
