The Volkswagen Group and Seat have announced a huge €10bn (£8.5bn) investment into electric car battery production in Spain. 

The ‘gigafactory’, as these facilities are known, will be located in Valencia and once up to full speed will have an annual production capacity of 40GWh. From there, it will provide EV batteries to the Volkswagen Group’s Martorell and Pamplona car production sites. 

According to VW, the site will take up 200 hectares and will employ 3,0000 people by 2030. Construction of the site is set to start in early 2023, with battery production commencing in 2026. 

Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess described it as the ‘biggest industrial investment ever made in Spain’, with the Spanish government also contributing as part of a fund set aside for ‘electric and connected vehicles’.

Diess said: “This investment of 10 billion euros will electrify Spain and Europe’s second-largest automotive manufacturer, creating a battery Gigafactory in Sagunto, enabling the production of electric vehicles at the Martorell and Pamplona plants, and building-up a comprehensive supplier ecosystem.

“The Volkswagen Group, Seat and the Spanish Government share a vision: to make Spain a European hub for electric mobility. We are ready to initiate this transformation.”

The site will be one of six gigafactories that the Volkswagen Group plans on building in Spain, with the electricity from the site all said to come from ‘100 per cent renewable energies’, including a 250 hectare solar farm located less than seven miles away from the main battery factory.