it will convert the future gigafactory of electric batteries in Sagunto (Valencia) into the base for the construction of the new battery cell plants that it foresees in Europe. The Valencian plant will be the second own battery facility that the car manufacturer will have in Europe after the one it is building in Salzgitter (Germany).
The big difference between the two macro-factories is that Volkswagen will implement a completely new logistics model for the Spanish factory, with which it seeks to get the most out of it and which it will later apply to the rest of the battery cell plants it plans to create in Europe. Volkswagen plans up to 6 gigafactories to be supplied, including the one operated by the Northvolt company in Sweden, until 2030.
As explained by Sebastian Wolf, head of operations at PowerCo, the subsidiary of the group in charge of assuming the new business of electric batteries, the production systems and technology of both plants will be replicated. However, in the case of Sagunto’s logistics chain and operations “it will be created from scratch”, which represents an opportunity to apply more innovative and efficient solutions.
This difference is due to the fact that, in the case of the German gigafactory, the group is reconverting a factory used up to now for motors, with which it will use existing buildings that condition these processes.
In the case of Sagunto, the gigafactory has been designed and will be built completely new, which facilitates a much more complete and customized development. Wolf pointed out that the intention is for the works to start at the beginning of next year and for it to start producing industrially at the beginning of 2026, to gradually expand its capacity to 40 GW in 2030.
Convention “confidential”
Precisely to advance in the development of the factory that must supply all the electric cars that Volkswagen and Seat will manufacture in Spain, PowerCo yesterday signed a collaboration agreement with the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig. An agreement still pending that Volkswagen’s plans, which include mobilizing, are approved within the Electric Vehicle Part.
The Valencian president assured that for this reason the conditions of the agreement could not yet be made public due to the “confidentiality clauses”, which would be made public after the approval of the Perte planned in September. The Valencian Government has expropriated the land and promoted a plan of three million net square meters of land for the gigafactory and its suppliers. , but whose conditions of transfer to the automobile group have not yet been revealed.
New training center
Puig did reveal that one of the projects that will be installed next to the factory will be a training center specialized in jobs linked to the electrification of the automobile. For this, the Valencian Government plans to invest 15 million euros in a plot of 20,000 square meters.
In addition, the president announced the award of the first two contracts linked to the drafting of urbanization projects and the future intermodal railway station planned for the area.
Those responsible for Volkswagen also left the door open for the PowerCo subsidiary in Spain to move to Valencia, since it was established with offices in Madrid, “even before the location of the gigafactory was decided.”
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