Switch Mobility has shared further details on its planned manufacturing and technology centre in Valladolid. It has confirmed it will be built on a greenfield site in the Soto de Medinilla area.
The 140,000m² site has been selected from numerous locations within the Castilla y Leon (Castile and León) Region of Spain. The facility will be built in phases, starting with bus production and research and development.
The announcement of the chosen location was accompanied by the planting of the first of 2,000 trees which will be introduced over the coming year, or one for every direct job Switch plans to create at the new centre. Dr Andy Palmer, Switch Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, and Eva Driessen, President of Switch Iberia, along with members of the executive Team were present.
Construction, which Switch says will be entirely carbon neutral, is due to begin soon.
Says Dr Palmer: “We are delighted to have selected Valladolid as the location for our first manufacturing site in continental Europe.
“The region’s wealth of quality engineers and strong supply chain, combined with Spain’s desire to be a leader in electric buses, make the Soto De Medinella area the perfect location. This new facility will provide us with crucial access to the European bus and light commercial vehicle market.
“Since announcing our plans to invest in Castilla y León, we have been overwhelmed by the level of interest in the project and I would like to thank Reyes Maroto Illera, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, Oscar Puente and their respective teams, who have worked tirelessly to secure this site for Switch.
“Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, which have resulted in the ground-breaking ceremony being postponed until March 18, we look forward to commencing construction imminently and seeing our first buses in production within the next 12 months.”
The new centre will produce Switch’s first battery-electric bus designed specifically for the European market. Further details on the product, which is expected to be 12m, is due in Q2 of 2022.
