*

4,000 local jobs to be created from plant, exec says

*

Roughly 2,000 workers to come from China to construct the

site

*

Spain's cheap energy and labour draw battery and EV

investments

*

Local unions, auto industry welcome Chinese know-how

(Adds 4,000 local jobs in paragraph 3, Chinese ambassador

statement in paragraph 4)

By Victoria Waldersee

FIGUERUELAS, Spain, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Chinese battery

maker CATL started building Spain's largest battery

factory on Wednesday, a 4.1-billion-euro ($4.8 billion) project

with Stellantis ( STLA ) that highlights Europe's reliance on Chinese

technology even as Brussels seeks to tighten trade rules.

The plant in Figueruelas, a town of 1,300 people in

northeastern Aragon, is backed by over 300 million euros in

European Union funds and expected to begin production in late

2026.

Around 2,000 Chinese workers will help construct the site,

training up to 4,000 local staff who will gradually take over

the plant, a CATL spokesperson said. The proportion of Chinese

staff will eventually fall to under 10%, the spokesperson added.

At a ceremony in Figueruelas, Chinese ambassador Yao Jing

lauded Spain as a reliable and strategic partner, adding that

China would keep its commitment to share technology. "No country

can develop alone."

CHEAPER LABOUR AND LOWER ENERGY COSTS

Spain, Europe's second-largest carmaker, is positioning

itself as a battery hub thanks to lower labour costs and

industrial energy prices about 20% below the EU average. Three

more plants are planned, including projects by Envision AESC,

Volkswagen's PowerCo, and InoBat.

Europe's auto associations are pushing for stricter

requirements on local sourcing of components in part to protect

them from Chinese rivals, as the European Commission prepares to

unveil a new set of measures to bolster the sector.

But auto industry executives and union representatives in

Aragon say that in the battery sector, technical know-how

remains a challenge.

"Before it was mostly German technology, and now it's

Chinese. What difference does it make? Here in Spain, what we

offered was always labour," said Roque Ordovás Mangirón, a

Stellantis ( STLA ) shipping manager.

"We don't know this technology, these components - we've

never made them before," said David Romeral, director general of

CAAR Aragon, a network of automotive businesses in Aragon.

"They're years ahead of us. All we can do is watch and

learn."

THEY 'KNOW HOW TO MAKE A GIGAFACTORY'

Some Chinese machinery technicians and managers have already

arrived in Figueruelas to begin construction. Several hundred

more will follow by year-end, with just under 2,000 workers from

China expected by the end of next year, according to a local

government spokesperson.

CATL is constructing its largest European plant in Debrecen,

Hungary, where around 950 workers have been hired so far,

two-thirds of whom are local. Still, recruitment has lagged

targets, according to unions, and production has been delayed to

2026 from late 2025.

In Aragon, unions were waiting for skill requirements from

CATL to set up training programmes with the local university,

said Jose Juan Arceiz, secretary general of local union UGT

Aragon.

"As the plant ramps up, there will be more jobs for Spanish

workers," Arceiz said. "This project needs to succeed, and

everyone has to do their part."

($1 = 0.8640 euros)