Seat & Cupra opens new Martorell battery gigafactory to ‘lead electromobility in Europe’
Seat & Cupra has started operations at its new battery system assembly plant at its Martorell site near Barcelona, Spain.
Built over two years and costing €300 million, the Spanish carmaker’s new battery gigafactory covers 64,000 square metres. It has the capacity to assemble one of parent company Volkswagen’s new MEB+ battery systems every 45 seconds – a total of 1,200 per day, and 300,000 per year.
From 2026, the Seat & Cupra Martorell gigafactory will supply the battery systems for the upcoming Cupra Raval and VW ID. Polo, which will be built on the manufacturing line at the Martorell facility.
When production begins, the MEB+ battery systems will adopt a cell-to-pack design and use lithium-iron phosphate chemistry to reduce vehicle purchasing costs and offer better range, charging speeds, and efficiency.
Both cars’ battery systems will be automatically moved to the assembly workshop via a 600-metre, in-house bridge to reduce the factory’s carbon footprint. Further steps to slash emissions and boost sustainability include fitting 11,000 roof-mounted solar panels, providing the site with 70% of its electricity.
Seat & Cupra has led VW’s ‘Urban Car Family’ project, which will see four all-electric models for three VW Group brands built in Spain. In acknowledgement of this, brand CEO, Markus Haupt, hailed the Seat & Cupra battery gigafactory as “the epicentre of the mobility of the future”.
“The opening of this battery system assembly plant is a turning point in the history of Seat and Cupra,” he said. “Today we see how our ambition becomes a reality – we are ready to produce 100% electric ‘Made in Spain’ cars that will make electric mobility accessible across Europe.
“Martorell is now the epicentre of the mobility of the future,” he continued. “We are proud to be leading the Electric Urban Car project [for the Brand Group Core] of the Volkswagen Group and to produce two of the models that will change the rules of the game in electrification, starting with the Cupra Raval.
“We have worked as a team to achieve something that goes beyond our ambition as a company and as a group – to lead electromobility in Europe.”
The upcoming Skoda Epiq and Volkswagen ID. Cross also fall under the Urban Car Family umbrella, but will be built separately at the Volkswagen Navarra factory, some 280 miles away on Spain’s east coast.
