Seat wants to turn Spain into a platform for the electric car in Europe. This plan includes the electrification of its Martorell and Pamplona factories, a battery production ecosystem – ranging from lithium mining, a key material, to a giant battery factory in Sagunt -, locations for electric components and a training, digitalisation and circular economy plan.
This is explained in the “Future: Fast Forward” project, which brings together an alliance of 62 partners to opt for the financing of the electric vehicle market. As advanced a few weeks ago by the president of Seat, Wayne Griffiths, the intention is to mobilise 7 billion euros with this project, of which some 3 billion would go to the Sagunt gigafactory.
The Volkswagen brand will go hand in hand with companies from 11 autonomous regions, 61% of which are SMEs, which “together cover the entire electric vehicle value chain”. It is a “country project”.
The plan pivots on four axes -electrification, production, components and others- and between all the partners “they cover the entire electric vehicle value chain”. This list includes Bosch, Celsa, Carto, Feníe Energía, Gestamp, Gonvarri, Iberdrola, Lithium Iberia, Silence, Técnicas Reunidas and Valeo. CaixaBank, Telefónica, Ficosa, Itainnova and Eurecat are also collaborating.
Last Friday, the partners met in Madrid for the project’s first general assembly, where Marc Riera, Seat’s Director of Purchasing Strategy and New Projects, was elected as president of the body. The idea is to meet at least twice a year. In addition, there will be a delegated commission that will meet periodically to ensure compliance with the Perte. In addition, there will be three governance committees: an audit and supervision committee (chaired by Blanca Montero), a risk and compliance committee (chaired by Ignacio González) and a finance committee (Ferran Rodríguez).
The list of project partners
Altech, Asai Industrial, Azterlan, Balidea, BeePlanet Factory, Bosch, Brose, Carto, Celsa Group, Cetim, Cidetec, Cenim – CSIC, Cerler Global Electronics, CYP Core, Delta Vigo, ENSO, Feníe Energía, Forminsa, GCR Group, Gestamp, Glavista, Gonvarri, Grupo Sesé, Grupo Simoldes, Iberdrola, Intrustial, IMS Technology, Ingedetec, Instituto Universitario Investigación (Circe) – Universidad de Zaragoza, isEazy, Isend, Kapture. io, Kautenik, Kivnon, Lazpiur, Leartiker, Libelium, Lithium Iberia, Malena Engineering, Mindcaps, Mol-Matric, Motorland Aragón, NTDD, Nutai, Órbita Ingeniería, Pomceg Electronics, Power Innotech, Power HoldCo Spain, Seat Code, Seat Mó, Seat, Silence, Grupo SPR, Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze, Técnicas Reunidas, Tecoi, Valeo, Vega Chargers, Vicomtech, Volkswagen Navarra, WIP and Zylk.
