VW says its Spanish battery cell plant will be located near Valencia

BARCELONA — Volkswagen Group’s planned battery cell plant in Spain will be located in Sagunto, on the outskirts of Valencia.

The factory will have around 3,000 employees and a production of 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) a year, VW said on Wednesday.

The factory will be VW Group’s second battery cell plant after Salzgitter and the first one outside of Germany.

It will produce VW’s next-generation unified cells, the automaker’s technology chief, Thomas Schmall said in a statement.

Construction will start by the end of the year and the factory will be ready to start production in 2026, VW said.

VW has embarked in an ambitious plan to build six large battery factories across Europe with an annual capacity of 240 GWh by the end of the decade as it aims to become the world’s leader in electric vehicles