en.Wedoany.com Reported - On August 11, the Autonomous Community of Aragon in Spain announced the environmental approval decision for the joint venture battery plant between CATL and Stellantis. The project has obtained the Environmental Impact Statement and completed the significant modification of the Integrated Environmental Authorization for the Stellantis Zaragoza automotive plant, providing the approval basis for the subsequent construction of cell production lines and supporting facilities.
The project is being implemented by Contemporary Star Energy, a joint venture equally owned by CATL and Stellantis (50% each), with a planned investment of up to €4.1 billion. The site is located in Figueruelas and Pedrola, Zaragoza Province, Spain, within Stellantis' existing automotive manufacturing base.
The plant is planned to have an annual production capacity of 50GWh, producing prismatic lithium iron phosphate cells and assembling power battery modules. The project covers a land area of approximately 891,800 square meters, with a building area of approximately 369,400 square meters, and plans to build 6 cell production lines and 9 module assembly lines.
Cell manufacturing encompasses electrode material preparation and coating, drying, calendering, slitting, cell assembly, electrolyte filling, formation, and end-of-line testing. Module production includes cell stacking, bonding, welding, busbar connection, marking, and insulation testing processes.
The project will be implemented in four phases. The first phase includes renovating Stellantis' existing buildings, constructing two new plants, and installing 9 module assembly lines, scheduled to commence operations in March 2027. The L1 and L2 cell production lines are planned to start in June 2028, the L3 and L4 lines in December 2028, and the second cell plant with the L5 and L6 lines is scheduled to commence operations in March 2029.
Once fully operational, the plant is planned to operate 330 days per year, 24 hours per day, with approximately 7,920 annual operating hours. The baseline production plan is expected to employ approximately 3,000 workers, of whom 91% will be in production roles. The company previously estimated that the project could provide more than 4,000 direct jobs at maximum capacity.
The plant will share certain utilities and auxiliary facilities with the Stellantis automotive production base, while also building high, medium, and low voltage power distribution systems as well as physical-chemical treatment units for process wastewater. The project will also be equipped with pre-filtration and reverse osmosis systems to recover concentrate from the deionized water unit, with the treated water being reused in boilers, cooling towers, and other industrial processes.
For cells that fail quality inspection, the project plans to build dedicated dismantling and treatment facilities, and will process potentially reactive anode materials through controlled oxidation and other processes to reduce the risk of combustion and heat release during cell dismantling.
The project has entered the actual construction phase. Following the groundbreaking ceremony held in November 2025, the construction contractor completed the first foundation pour on January 20, 2026. The Spanish government previously provided €133 million in grants to the Stellantis Figueruelas project through the Electric and Connected Vehicle Industry Plan (PERTE VEC), as well as €14 million in support through the Industrial Decarbonization Plan.
