Volkswagen shall open battery plant near Valencia in 2026

Volkswagen has selected a site near Valencia for a planned battery cell plant located in Spain, which could include U.S. automaker Ford as a customer or partner, but the project depends on getting government funds, it said on Wednesday.

The automaker intends to start series production at the 40 gigawatt-hour (GWh) plant by 2026, meaning construction would need to start this year.

Spain, Europe’s largest automaker after Germany, last week started a bidding process for around 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) – around half in grants – to promote the production of electric vehicle (EV) with Volkswagen and its Spanish unit SEAT readying a bid.

Winners will be selected this year.

The automaker said it would invest, with suppliers, more than 7 billion euros ($7.7 billion) in the plant and in beginning EV production at two Spanish factories.

Volkswagen aims to build six large battery factories throughout Europe by 2030.