SEAT, Ficosa and Sanyo join forces to develop batteries for electric vehicles in Spain and Portugal

Volkswagen Group member SEAT, Ficosa and Sanyo have signed an agreement to promote the development of batteries for electric vehicles in Spain and Portugal. The strategic agreement includes that the three companies will study and prove the technical feasibility and technology of manufacture of batteries for SEAT and Volkswagen plants in the Iberian Peninsula.

Sanyo will develop the cells and the battery pack and make the cells and Ficosa will address the assembly process of the batteries in Viladecavalls facilities (Barcelona) to provide for the SEAT and Volkswagen factories in Spain and Portugal.

To SEAT president James Muir, this partnership represents “a major breakthrough in the bid for the development of SEAT alternative vehicles. The Volkswagen Group is promoting hybrid and electric vehicles at high speed and SEAT, as a member of the consortium is involved in this strategy.”

In October 2010 at the Paris Motor Show, SEAT introduced the prototype IBE 2.0; SEAT has also developed the concept car IBx, a plug-in hybrid SUV that appeared at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Ficosa is a leader in the development and production of vehicle components and systems worldwide. Its main strategic areas of innovation are the development of systems for electric vehicles and / or hybrid communication systems and intelligent systems help the driver. Ficosa is a pioneer in the automotive sector in Spain in the development of packaging systems, electronic control and management of electric vehicle batteries and / or hybrids.

The company, in line with its strategic focus on sustainability, actively participates in several cooperative research projects related to electromobility in Europe (POLLUX, led by Spain and Europe by Artemis platform), Spain (Cenit VERDE, led SEAT and promoted by the Ministry of Science and Innovation) and Catalonia (BATTMAN, promoted by the Generalitat of Catalonia and the EC).

Sanyo supplies NiMH batteries for hybrid electric vehicles developed by Volkswagen and also carries out the implementation of the next generation of NiMH and Li-ion batteries with car manufacturers—for example, Volkswagen Group.

Source: Green Car Congress