The Government finally published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) the call for the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) for the development of the Electric and Connected Vehicle. Candidate projects will be eligible for € 2,975 million from European Next Generation funds, € 1,425 million in the form of loans and € 1,550 in the form of grants. The call published in the BOE contains news regarding the anticipated, the most significant being the flexibility of the participation of SMEs in the candidacies.
In this sense, the original proposal conditioned the candidates to the fact that 30% of the aid fell on SMEs, a condition that was not well received by the automotive sector by hindering the execution of projects. According to the new wording, it will also be possible to calculate the aid equivalent to the budget contracted and subcontracted by large companies with these SMEs. With this change, the verification that 30% of the funds will be managed by SMEs will not be carried out during the award process, but during the supervision of the files during the justification process.
Conditions are maintained such as the obligation that the projects that are awarded the aid be carried out before September 30, 2025, that 40% of the entities must be SMEs and that the minimum budget for each project must be reach 40 million euros.
Competitive competition
The call was published under criteria of competitive competition and with an impact on a minimum of two autonomous communities. Likewise, approved projects must always have a participant in each of the three mandatory blocks: battery manufacturer, car manufacturer and component manufacturer, due to the importance of all elements of the value chain.
The 2,975 million euros correspond to the industrial part of the PERTE. It is then completed with the aid of the Moves III Plan, the Moves Singular Projects Program, the CDTI’s Sustainable Mobility Technology Program, artificial intelligence and a connected vehicle up to 4.3 billion euros. Thus, the development of the project envisages a total investment of more than 24 billion euros in the period 2021-2023 between public and private investments, according to the Ministry of Industry.