Volkswagen’s Spanish automaker SEAT aims to locate a battery assembly plant close to its Barcelona factory to support electric vehicle production there from 2025, providing it gets financial and other support from Spanish and EU officials, its chairman said on Monday.
Wayne Griffiths verified that SEAT plans to introduce an urban electric vehicle in 2025, which it aims to produce at its plant in Martorell, outside Barcelona.
Spain’s industry minister said on March 4 that the country will use European Union funds for creating a public-private consortium with SEAT and power company Iberdrola for building the country’s first factory for electric-car batteries, but did not mention where it would be located.
Griffiths said officials would need to confirm their support to stimulate demand for electric vehicles, significantly improve charging facilities and support the development of vehicle and battery production infrastructure.
“If we want a car by 2025, we need to make these decisions quickly this year,” Griffiths informed a press briefing, adding he was confident of securing an agreement with the Spanish government.
Spain is set to get some 140 billion euros ($166.98 billion) in EU pandemic recovery funds by 2023, nearly half in grants. It prepares to channel a large chunk to financing major industrial projects that will help resuscitate and modernize its beleaguered economy.
If SEAT’s electric plan goes ahead, the company plans to produce more than 500,000 urban electric cars a year from 2025 at Martorell, including models for other brands in the Volkswagen stable, such as Volkswagen, Skoda, and possibly Audi, Griffiths said.
Griffiths stressed the significance of building the battery assembly plant close to SEAT’s Martorell facility to optimize production logistics.
He said it was less relevant where a battery-cell factory – the prior step before assembling the batteries – would be located and said that was yet to be decided.
SEAT reported 2020 a financial loss of 194 million euros ($231 million), compared with a net profit of 346 million euros ($412 million) in 2019, as sales fell 26% due to the coronavirus crisis.
“This year we must return to profitability,” Griffiths said.
