BARCELONA — Spain is optimistic that an alternate challenge will likely be discovered to avoid wasting hundreds of jobs threatened by Nissan’s choice to close its three crops within the Barcelona space by the top of the yr, a authorities official informed Reuters.

A manufacturing unit to supply electric-vehicle battery cells is amongst 17 proposed initiatives which have been submitted by 13 corporations for the amenities, junior business minister Raul Blanco stated in an interview, with out specifying who was behind the battery plan.

Most proposed initiatives are linked to electrical mobility, officers have beforehand stated.

Sweden’s Volta Vehicles, which produces electrical autos, is among the many few bidders which have publicly introduced their curiosity within the crops, the place it may make its Volta Zero. It’s a part of a consortium of corporations that has submitted a bid.

Nissan’s factories make use of round 3,000 individuals instantly, and as much as 20,000 not directly when taking into consideration suppliers.

As their closure nears, as a part of the automaker’s world restructuring, unions are rising impatient at what they understand as a scarcity of progress to find options. They’ve urged authorities to speed up their efforts and plan a protest on Might 13 in Barcelona.

“We’re optimistic till the final minute,” Blanco stated when requested whether or not a viable various challenge would emerge to avoid wasting jobs. “We’re working tirelessly.”

The precedence of a process drive on the crops’ future is to ensure the utmost variety of jobs, he added.

Nonetheless, Blanco stated a deliberate challenge by Volkswagen Group’s Spanish model Seat and utility Iberdrola to construct a battery cell manufacturing unit in Spain would possible be too large to be housed at Nissan’s 500,000-square-metre fundamental plant in Barcelona.

The federal government has backed the plans for such a manufacturing unit to be constructed within the nation to assist cut back reliance on batteries from China and hopes to construct it in a public-private partnership utilizing EU restoration funds.

Blanco stated the Barcelona website could be extra appropriate for a smaller battery challenge from different corporations.

Ramon Tremosa, the enterprise chief of Catalonia’s authorities, requested unions for endurance, arguing that the plans which have been submitted for the Nissan website confirmed that the northeastern area remained engaging as an auto sector hub.