Pionera Extremadura will have the first battery factory in Spain and southern Europe
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Much has been said (and will be talked about) about whether or not Spain should manufacture batteries for vehicles.
The truth
is that it is a business opportunity
.
Extremadura
has taken the first step
with the announcement of a vertical project that includes the exploitation of a lithium mine, a cathode factory and a cell plant that will involve an investment of 1,000 million euros and 1,615 direct jobs.
The second step was that of the Volkswagen group, by asking the Spanish Government to do everything possible to implement a battery factory to supply the
600,000 electric vehicles in segment B (such as a Seat Arona) that it plans to assemble in Spain at Seat Martorell
, and later at Volkswagen Navarra, for all the brands of the German consortium.
These are two real opportunities within a Europe that tries to bet on electromobility as a business opportunity.
For this reason, the European Commission launched the
European Battery Alliance
project in 2017
and, according to its estimates, it will generate a business of
250,000 million euros by 2025 and between 3 and 4 million jobs.
But most importantly, it will reduce the total dependence of Asian countries, especially China, on battery cell production.
Battery factory project in Extremadura
In addition, the European Commission in 2021 and in collaboration with the industrial hydrogen acceleration center EGHAC (European Green Hydrogen Acceleration Center) the
Breakthrough Energy
project
, which will mobilize an investment of 1,000 million euros, a generation of 1,200 TWh, half a million jobs and that it focuses more than on hydrogen itself in the industrial value chain.
This year the European Commission has also launched the European
Solar Initiative
to once again attract photovoltaic operators to the Old Continent, install 20 GWh per year in Europe and generate some 400,000 jobs.
Transport decarbonization
The
transport
represents
25% of global CO2 emissions
, the challenge to lower the gases emitted is high because, due to the increase in GDP and per capita income is expected to
the problem is multiplied by three
if taken as parameters people per kilometer or merchandise per kilometer displaced,
according to the presentation by Mikel Lasa
, general director of
KIC InnoEnergy Iberia
, one of the coordinating companies of these projects launched by the European Commission, within the Sernauto Virtual Conference entitled "Spain as a manufacturer of batteries and fuel cell ".
Within that 25%, road transport represents 70% of emissions
. The expectation is not promising because if
in 2016 6,081 million tons of CO2 were emitted by these vehicles, in 2030 they will rise to 6,448 million tons
due to the increase in travel and commercial activity. Yes, there is a downward estimate for 2050 to 4,199 million tons of CO2.
All this despite the fact that there is an effort to turn towards electrification with different technologies. The problem is that
no one dares to forecast when or how many electrified vehicles there will be in 2050
. Although the International Energy Agency predicts that by
2030 65% of vehicles will have electrification globally, a percentage that will be 75% in Europe, including passenger cars and light commercial vehicles
. And within these percentages, battery technology will be the dominant one, leaving hydrogen for the transport of large tons of goods and long distances.
According to a Bloomberg study, by
2025
virtually all
passenger car EV
segments
will have equated their production costs to their equivalent internal combustion models
.
Even in B-segment SUVs from 2023 or 2024.
The price of an electric vehicle is conditioned today by the cost of the battery.
According to Bloomberg NEF and based on the fact that
the price per kWh for lithium-ion battery packs was 137 dollars (114 dollars at the current exchange rate), it would drop to 92 dollars / kWh in 2025, to 58 dollars / kWh in 2030;
and $ 45 per kWh in 2035.
To give an example of a luxury electric vehicle recently launched on the market, the Mercedes-Benz EQS that has a range of more than 770 km in WLTP approval, which allows charging 300 kilometers in 15 minutes at a fast charging point.
Mercedes-Benz EQV, manufactured in Vitoria
But parallel to batteries there
are
also
projects in Europe such as H2 Green Steel in Sweden
, where companies such as Scania, Mercedes-Benz, Ikea, Exxor, InnoEnergy, Stena Metall, Marcegaglio or Kingspan participate.
It aims to generate 5 million tons of CO2-free steel.
In the automotive industry, the extra cost of having this steel in a car of 30,000 euros is about 50 euros, which is viable and affordable by the end consumer.
A project that can be replicated with other raw materials and where hydrogen will play a relevant role in decarbonization.
European Battery Alliance
In Europe, to help this decarbonisation and transformation of transport, the European Battery Alliance (EBA250 and European Battery Alliance) was launched as we have said, seeking an industrial value chain integrated in electric mobility.
Since it was launched in 2017-2018
, 70 industrial projects have been launched
, most located in central and northern Europe.
One in Spain
and one in Portugal.
Southern Europe is now starting to get hooked on this car, although we are clearly behind them.
Norvolth
, a Swedish company, is one of the main projects.
It already has a factory that produces 2 GWh and in 2022 it will have the 16 GWh plant that has the production sold until 2030.
It is an example of how it is acting in Europe. And it must be taken into account that
in 2019 in Europe 60,000 million euros were invested in electromobility, 3.5 times more than the 17,100 million that China invested
. In addition, 1,385,000 100% electric and plug-in hybrids were sold in Europe in 2020, surpassing 1,337,000 in China and 328,000 in the US. With growth in Europe of 137% while in China it was 12% and 4% in the US, according to Transport & Environment.
Europe
is beginning to become the
fast follower
of Asian countries. But to accelerate the battery and electric vehicle sector where there is much development, in
March
there was an interministerial meeting with the presence of several European countries where
three lines of action
were drawn
:
accelerate the regularization and standardization
that allow giving a competitive advantage to the companies established in Europe from the point of view of sustainability and that affect the obtaining of raw materials, recycling or the treatment of emissions during the manufacturing process.
The second line will
focus on the extraction and treatment of raw materials
.
Today, most of them come from China, Australia or South America.
But in addition, it is the case that its refining is done in China, with which they travel from Latin America to the Asian giant to return to Europe, which is not very efficient in terms of emissions.
Europe has to refine these raw materials to make their processing sustainable and economically viable.
And the
third line was to create the European Battery Academy to train 800,000 people
to achieve the relocation and training of new employees in these new profiles that the electromobility ecosystem brings with it.
Does Spain have everything to create a battery industry?
Spain
has a great opportunity in the battery industry.
It has raw materials such as rare earths, graphite.
But the truth is that its extraction
generates social rejection,
the administrations have not carried out this type of projects for years and they do not have greased machinery ... But if it is exploited in a sustainable way it is a business opportunity.
Also
Spain has abundant renewable energy and very affordable in costs
.
Last year the PPA (Purchase Price Aggregation), that is, a purchase price of energy of 35 euros per KWh, which allows attracting modern electro-intensive industries, among which are battery manufacturing.
Spain also
has a consolidated automotive industrial sector and we already have electric model awards in the country
and even more are expected in the second wave of electric vehicles that arrives from 2025. To this is also joined by a powerful components industry both automotive and parts for renewable energy, such as wind turbines or solar panels.
Irizar ie tram electric bus that will operate in Barcelona.
Spain
has Spanish companies that already work with battery-powered vehicles in buses, such as Irizar
, in automotive components, such as Gestamp, Grupo Antolín or Ficosa, among others, or in charging infrastructure such as WallBox, and in railways or applications. stationary.
At the same time, there are already established R&D organizations in these fields that, together with the R&D investments of the companies involved, mean that talent in both engineering and production processes does not migrate and stay in Spain.
Without forgetting the European recovery funds that will support the projects that were underway
and that will see the light of day.
And this opportunity means that
Spain could be the lion's head in micromobility
in Europe, where 15% of all trips under 8 kilometers will be made in an electric vehicle.
The electric motorcycle company Silence is one example.
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