Today is one of the most eagerly awaited days for the automotive industry because on 1 April the calls for proposals for the Strategic Project for the Recovery and Economic Transformation of the electric and connected vehicle (PERTE VEC) finally open.

This project will mobilise 2,975 million euros that will help to launch important projects with the aim of transforming one of the country’s key industries.

The call for applications will start today, 1 April, and will end on 3 May, for a programme in which interest rates will be 0%.

The industry will begin to present different projects ranging from the electrification of factories, the construction of a large battery plant or the development of a large part of the electric charging infrastructure.

So far it is known that SEAT, together with Volkswagen Group, will use the funds to set up an automotive production system that will serve not only as a contribution to the technological transition, but also as an engine to generate employment.

This is the «Future: Fast Forward» plan, through which they aim to become the leading local producer of electric cars.

On the other hand, as they assured Portal Movilidad from Catalonia they are planning several projects as well.

«They are all focused on updating the proposals that companies have for electric vehicles,» says Josep Nadal, Manager of the Clúster de la Indústria d’Automoció de Catalunya (CIAC).

Among the projects are some that will focus on the extraction of materials for the manufacture of batteries, whether cells, their configuration and battery packs.

Other more specific projects will be to speed up the sale of electric vehicles.

In addition, there are others related to infrastructures for the daily use of electric cars, such as charging points.

To be taken into account when submitting a proposal 

The rules presented by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR) establish a collaborative application form.

Entities interested in submitting an application must be constituted as a group of companies without legal personality and sign an internal agreement prior to the formalisation of the application.

Applications called «tractor projects» must include primary projects involving several links in the sector’s value chain, and within the mandatory blocks, as well as some of the optional and cross-cutting blocks defined in the Council of Ministers Agreement of 13 July 2021.

a) Mandatory industrial blocks, which are essential to achieve the objective of the PERTE VEC:
1st. original equipment manufacturing and assembly (OEM).

2º. Manufacture of batteries or hydrogen cells

3º. Manufacture of other essential components adapted to the electric and connected vehicle.

b) Blocks of an additional nature, complementary to the mandatory ones:
1st. Manufacture of intelligent vehicle components

2º. Connectivity of the electric vehicle

3º. Manufacture of recharging systems

c) Mandatory cross-cutting blocks:
1st. Circular Economy Plan

2º. Digitalisation Plan

3º. Training and Professional Retraining Plan Beneficiaries Groups without their own legal personality that meet both the general conditions established in Royal Decree-Law 36/2020 and the specific conditions set out in the order of bases. The following conditions are to be highlighted:

a) The members shall be legal entities, public or private, with their own legal personality, legally constituted in Spain and duly registered in the corresponding register, irrespective of their legal form and size.

b) The groupings must be organised around the automotive industrial sector with a combination of at least five distinct legal entities that do not belong to the same business group, nor constitute companies controlled on equal terms by any two of the participating entities that form part of the grouping. At least one of the participating entities shall belong to CNAE 291 (Manufacture of motor vehicles), and another shall belong to CNAE 293 (Manufacture of components, parts and accessories for motor vehicles).

c) The grouping must be made up of at least 40% of SMEs.

d) They must have the collaboration of at least one supplier of technology and/or knowledge and, as such, have sufficient technical and organisational capacity to carry out the R&D&I activities included in the tractor project. This knowledge provider may be one of the companies.

e) They must be established in a geographical area that covers at least two Autonomous Regions. Types of primary projects Each primary project will be classified in one of the following lines:

1- Line of Research, Development and Innovation: industrial research projects, experimental development, and innovation projects in terms of organisation and processes.

2- Line of Innovation in Sustainability and Energy Efficiency. Innovative investments aimed at environmental protection, energy saving or energy efficiency.

3- Line of regional aid for investment in assisted areas. Projects for the creation of new establishments, modification of production lines or initial investments in favour of a new economic activity in accordance with the parameters and restrictions established in Community regulations.

4- Training aid line.