Spain to support Seat and Envision battery factories

Spain's Ministry of Industry has cleared the way for subsidies for two battery plants of Envision and Seat under the Perte subsidy programme. One involves cell production, while the other will manage battery assembly.

Envision holds a grant of 200 million euros and a loan of another 100 million euros for its planned battery cell factory in Navalmoral de la Mata. The project was announced in July 2022, with a production start in 2025 as the target. When completed, the plant is expected to produce 50 GWh of battery cells per year.

Seat is being subsidised to the tune of 47 million euros to build a battery assembly plant at its Martorell plant near Barcelona. However, as announced this summer, Seat will manufacture supplied battery cells there into ready-to-install battery packs for vehicle production. The cells are to come from the Volkswagen battery factory in Sagunt near Valencia, the construction of which started in March.

VW had announced an investment of 300 million euros for the plant at production hall 10. With 47 million euros, the Spanish government is thus covering just under one-sixth of the sum. At Envision, the total investment is over 1.3 billion euros. With a total of 300 million euros consisting of the grant and loan, this results in a subsidy rate of around 23 per cent.

In May, the EU Commission approved the Spanish Perte subsidy under state aid law and thus gave the green light for the programme, which has a budget of 837 million euros. The programme can be used by companies that produce batteries, essential battery components or the raw materials needed for them.

The application deadline for Perte funding already expired on 15 September. Therefore, no more new projects can be submitted, but funding commitments for already submitted projects will now be awarded.

According to the announcement by the Ministry of Industry, a total of 322 million euros in grants have been awarded with the two approvals now granted for Envision and Seat (the 100 million euros in loans are not included here). This is said to represent more than 60 percent of the funds allocated to the call for August and September.

Together with the decisions already published, thanks to the work of the technical team of the Ministry of Industry, the number of grants awarded in the months will reach almost 322 million euros, more than 60 % of the August and September funds allocated to the call for grants.

forococheselectricos.com, mintcontur.gob.es (in Spanish)