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The craftsman who aspires to fill the void of Nissan

2022-06-20T10:37:21.146Z


Joan Orús, at the head of an engineering company specializing in electric cars, leads the consortium that is bidding for the Barcelona Free Trade Zone


Ricard Bosch, professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, recalls that one day in 1998 a young man entered the laboratory where he worked to propose a project.

He wanted to build a solar vehicle together with a group of classmates as a final year project.

—Uy, to do that we would need 200 million pesetas, Bosch replied, who had already analyzed the possibility of designing one.

—No, there is a project for university students that would be possible to do with only 20 million.

—Oh.

Well, we'll do one thing: bring half the money and I'll get the other half, the teacher ended up responding, suspicious and aware that he had already gone through other unfeasible proposals from students that had become a waste of time.

The conversation stayed there until that young student returned two weeks later to meet the professor, whom until then he had not known at all.

He had made the money in the form of endorsements and Bosch assumed he had to keep his word.

With systematic work and a chain of favours, the project came to fruition and the entire team flew to Australia, where they participated in a solar car race between Sydney and Melbourne.

That car called Despertaferro, an Almogávar war cry for what would be the first solar car in Spain, now rests in a museum in Terrassa (Barcelona).

The young 25-year-old engineer who ended up leading the project was aware that, despite his obsession, the technology was not mature enough for electric cars to become a reality.

Two decades have passed since then and that young man, Joan Orús, changed his mind a few years ago: electromobility is a fact.

In 2007 he left his job at Seat Sport (where he contributed to the design of the Cupra GT) in one of the most complicated and momentous decisions of his career, he explains, because the Spanish brand "didn't do anything electrical ”.

He founded his first company to go in that direction and then QEV Technologies, a company that invoices 15 million euros, is focused on electromobility and almost handcrafts high-powered cars and prototypes for big brands.

To give two examples of his activity: while in a small room at his facilities in Montmeló (Barcelona) work is being done on two Hispano-Suiza Carmen electric supercars valued at more than one and a half million euros each,

crazy cars

of more than 1,000 horses that participate in the FC1-X, the electric version of the American Nitro Rallycross.

However, this industrial engineer wanted to go one step further and take his developments to urban transport from a perspective of mass industrial production.

The legislation runs in its favor, with pressure from the European Union so that from 2035 the commercialization of combustion vehicles is definitively vetoed.

Thus, they developed a platform for electric buses that they manufacture in China to sell to different bodybuilders as the basis for their vehicles.

"We wanted to go from small to large production and achieve a turnover of more than 300 million euros," explains Orús, highlighting that all these plans involved producing in the Asian country and assuming final assembly in Spain.

His idea is not to attack the future business from the private vehicle, but above all that of transport and urban delivery.

Orús poses before a company logo.

Christopher Castro

The project to manufacture in Asia was like that until the Barcelona Nissan crisis exploded.

The decision of the Japanese group to cease manufacturing on the Free Zone land and, above all, the need for administrations to seek an alternative to fill a gap that led to the destruction of a minimum of 2,500 direct jobs became a opportunity for your growth plans.

“Two years ago we were considering moving to a 20,000-square-meter plant to do final tasks and distribution,” he says of a strategy that has expired sooner than expected.

Now they aspire to occupy 300,000 square meters at the gates of Barcelona and set up their headquarters there.

They have allied with another engineering company, Btech, with the aim of assembling 100,000 vehicles by 2025 and exceeding 1.

Orús has created a new brand called Zeroid that would manufacture 60,000 vans, while its partner plans to assemble 40,000 units of electric station wagons similar to those already produced at the Nissan plant, but with the reborn Ebro brand. But its plans include Above all, becoming a kind of white-label vehicle factory that can be marketed under other banners.

"There are many brands that are growing in Europe and others that want to outsource small series and, furthermore, we have discovered a niche that is the last mile, delivery vans," he clarifies.

The consortium of the self-styled

hub

of decarbonization is waiting for what the administrations decide, which previously considered another alternative, Great Wall Motor, as a priority, until the Chinese group ended up ruling out Barcelona.

If QEV's plans are confirmed, China would be a mere supplier going down.

The next year it would supply 70% of the components to Zeroid, but a year later that percentage would drop to 30%.

One of the advantages of participating in this process was to take advantage of the job pool of former Nissan employees, with extensive knowledge of the automotive sector.

The problem, the 800 million euros (60% will be assumed by QEV) that the investment requires for two companies that have ideas, but little financial muscle.

"Now we will do a financing round that values ​​the company between 200 and 300 million euros, with the intention of going public within two years," explains Orús, who considers this step essential to fight with the big ones.

From Adrian Campos to Enrique Banuelos

Closely linked to sporting events, his company has participated in Formula 2, Formula 3, the World Touring Car Championship and even Formula E in 2013, hand in hand with one of his former partners: Adrián Campos.

The pilot controlled 50% of the company (compared to the other half held by Orús, Juan Fernández and Rubén Espin) until he sold his shares, which caused the controversial property developer Enrique Bañuelos (who now has an indirect share).

Now the three founding partners control around 30% of the shares and among the shareholders are the listed Swedish manufacturer Inzile (19%), the Philippine tycoon Endika Aboitiz, the Valencian company Power Electronics, the investment holding company NAD and the Inveready fund. 


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Source: elparis

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