Volkswagen Group's newly-created battery company 'PowerCo' and the Generalitat Valenciana (self-government institutions of Valencia) have signed a collaboration agreement for the development of the EV battery giga factory project at Sagunto in Valencia province in Spain.
The company claims that the Sagunto plant will play a key role in PowerCo's strategy to build a network of gigafactories in Europe by 2030. This is the second proposed giga factory of the company, the first being Salzgitter plant in Germany that is currently under construction.
PowerCo is investing more than 3 billion euros in the 200-hectare plant, which will have an annual production capacity of 40 GWh and supply total volume of batteries needed by the Martorell and Pamplona plants manufacturing SEAT and VW brand of cars.
Sebastian Wolf, Chief Operations Officer (COO) of PowerCo, said, "With Salzgitter as lead plant, Valencia will be the first full roll-out of our new standard factory concept. It allows maximized economies of scale as well as interchangeability in-between production lines globally".
"In addition, it enables reduced ramp-up times from 36 months down to 18 months. For PowerCo, the unified cell and the standard factory are the two key success factors for fast ramp-up and global competitiveness", he added.
In line with the VW Group's aim to be a CO2 neutral company by 2050, the electricity needs of the giga factory will come from renewable energy, with a focus on reusing raw materials. A photovoltaic plant will be built to supply the giga factory with green energy, according to the company.
By 2030, PowerCo plans to invest more than 20 billion euros together with its partners to generate an annual sales in excess of 20 billion euros in the European region. The company is currently identifying potential sites for three new cell factories in Europe and few others in North America.
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