Volkswagen accelerates investment in green energy: what plans do the Germans have?

VW will partner with Spain’s largest utility company, Iberdrola, which will set up a solar park to partially power a battery plant near Valencia.

The Volkswagen Group will invest 10 billion euros to produce electric vehicles and batteries in Spain, said CEO Herbert Diess, about 3 billion euros more than previously committed.

VW has also announced a partnership agreement with Spain’s largest electricity company, Iberdrola, which will set up a solar park to partially power a battery plant to be built in the municipality of Sagunto, near Valencia.

VW said in March it would invest 7 billion euros to build a battery plant and produce electric vehicles at its two car factories in Spain, but Diess said the figure had been raised to 10 billion with us. partners on board.

Investment for the future

“We will electrify the second largest carmaker in Europe (Spain) with a new battery factory and the production of electric cars in two factories,” said Diess.

The plan was to create “a complete ecosystem of suppliers from lithium extraction to battery assembly,” Diess said at an event in Sagunto on Thursday.

Diess visited the site where the factory will be built together with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

VW aims to start construction of the 40-gigawatt-hour (GWh) plant in the first quarter of 2023, with series production scheduled to begin by 2026. By 2030, the site will employ more than 3,000 people.

VW plans to have six battery cell plants in Europe by 2030, with a combined capacity of 240 GWh, in an attempt to control as much of the supply chain as possible. The plan is a key step in VW’s quest to overtake Tesla and become the world’s best-selling electric vehicle.