Balidea participated as a partner in the public presentation of Future: Fast Forward, which took place yesterday in Madrid. The event was attended by the Minister of Finance and Public Function María Jesús Montero, who pointed out that "we have the technological know-how, the industrial capacity, the business leadership and the support of the public administrations to contribute to an increasingly sustainable, cleaner and less polluting economy, where electric mobility will play a decisive role". This event took place after the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism gave its final approval to Balidea's proposal on the development of the Strategic Projects for the Recovery and Economic Transformation for the Electric Vehicle (PERTE VEC) included in the Future: Fast Forward cluster.
The 52 companies of Future: Fast Forward will contribute to PERTE VEC with the implementation of 86 projects in 9 different communities, divided into nine thematic blocks. Balidea participates in the cross-cutting block of circular economy, as a member of the primary project RELOAD, whose mission is to contribute to the efficient and secure supply of high-value metals in the industrial chain of the Electric and Connected Vehicle (EV), reducing dependence on imports and promoting a sustainable, circular industrial model with a smaller environmental footprint.
In particular, Balidea will be responsible for integrating the use of digital technologies as tools to boost recycling processes, researching technologies that ensure the traceability of metals and promote the circular economy. To this end, it will design a digital prototype that ensures the traceability of metals throughout the value chain, from the manufacture of components to their recovery and reuse.
In addition, research will be carried out to create a functional and predictive model based on Artificial Intelligence to predict the demand and availability of recovered products and metals of interest to the Spanish automotive sector and improve their use. Finally, in collaboration with SEAT, a European digital passport for electric vehicle batteries will be designed, which will guarantee the sustainability of the manufacturing processes.
The RELOAD project is led by the company ENSO and, in addition to Balidea, the companies SEAT, Técnicas Reunidas, Asai Industrial, CETIM, the University of Zaragoza and the Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) also participate in the consortium. Together, they will work to boost sustainability and the circular economy in the Electric and Connected Vehicle industry.
A historic partnership
Future: Fast Forward is the largest business alliance in the history of the automotive industry in Spain. Its geographic diversification and its complete knowledge of the entire automotive value chain give it a comprehensive vision of the steps needed to develop the sustainable electrification of mobility in Spain. This is an ambitious project that can transform Spain into a leading European hub for electric mobility, as well as having a very positive impact on the socioeconomic level due to its capillarity throughout the value chain of the automotive sector.
With the final resolution of the Ministry of Industry, the administrative procedures foreseen to receive the funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the European Union granted to the companies of Future: Fast Forward, amounting to 357 million euros, have been completed.
Together with this Thursday's public presentation, in which the details of the different projects were made known, it represents the definitive launching of the initiative, which is expected to mobilize an investment of 10 billion euros: 7 billion euros from the Volkswagen Group, SEAT S.A. and PowerHoldco, and 3 billion euros from the rest of the companies.
