Seat's plan to invest 5 billion euros in the coming years to electrify the Martorell plant is beginning to yield its first results. After the inauguration in the summer of 2020 of the new electromobility training center for workers, the Electromobility Learning Center, the car manufacturer opened the doors this Wednesday to the new research and development center for electric car batteries, where it has invested more than seven million euros.
The new Test Center Energy is part of Volkswagen's global research and development (R&D) network. It is the first that the group has in Southern Europe and joins similar facilities in Germany, China, and the United States. For Seat, this commitment by the group to the Barcelona plant represents "one more step" in its commitment to promote electric vehicles in Spain. "Today is a very important day for the future of Seat and Martorell, a future that is defined by one word: electrification," said Seat president, Wayne Griffiths, at the inauguration of the center.
This objective is still conditioned on the concretization of the PERTE for electric vehicles, which will serve to channel European funds into this sector. In fact, Griffiths took advantage of the inauguration, which was attended by the Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, to demand that the Government publish it in the coming days. "Further delays in the call would be critical," he warned. The location of a battery plant in Spain also depends on this PERTE, a matter on which Seat sources emphasize that no decision has yet been made.
Despite the location of this plant not yet having been communicated, Griffiths has stressed that Volkswagen's plan to electrify Spain will be transversal throughout the country, with the production of electric vehicles as the central element of this value chain, part of the process that has already been said will be done from Barcelona. A week ago, the German group confirmed that Martorell and Pamplona would be the Spanish factories that would produce these cars, provided that the necessary aid arrives. Specifically, from the Baix Llobregat plant, it is expected to take on three models of compact electric cars from the Seat, Cupra, and Skoda brands, with a planned production capacity of 500,000 cars annually starting in 2025.
It remains to be defined where the other phases of electric car manufacturing will be carried out, such as the transformation of minerals, the creation of electrodes, the assembly of cells, the assembly of modules, and the assembly of batteries. Each of these processes can be done in a different plant or several can be grouped in the same location.
More than 6,000 annual tests
From the new Test Center Energy, located at the automaker's Technical Center in Martorell,the company will develop and perform performance tests on batteries for Cupra, Seat and Seat Mó electric and hybrid cars, but will also serve other brands of the Volkswagen group. The center can perform 6,000 tests annually and has a maximum simultaneous testing capacity of 1.3 megawatts, as detailed by Seat's R&D Vice President, Werner Tietz.With 1,500 square meters, the center incorporates climatic chambers to test batteries and their modules under extreme conditions, with temperatures ranging from -25 degrees to 55 degrees. There is also a workshop designed and equipped to perform tests with electrified vehicles, with capacity to work with a total of eight cars testing the safety or energy system, and an area that investigates issues such as the second life these batteries can have. Until now, all these types of tests were done from Germany in Europe, and Martorell only had one of the climatic chambers that are part of the new center.
The Test Center Energy, which began operating after the summer, has a staff of 25 employees and plans to incorporate more through the open innovation area, collaborating with universities and technology centers.