Spanish auto lab drives China-Europe collaboration in EV innovation

22/5/2025 6:22

The BYD electric car is stripped down and taken apart on the floor of the laboratory, with its components laid around it as if an autopsy had been carried out on the state-of-the-art vehicle.

"This is reverse engineering taken to its limits," said Daniel, who is a technician at the Automotive Intelligence Center (AIC) in the town of Zamudio on the outskirts of the city of Bilbao in the province of Bizcay in northern Spain.

AIC is another example of how research, investigation and market knowledge are bringing together different companies and also nations to collaborate for their collective benefit.

As a public-private partnership aims to help its partners develop next-generation technology for the automobile industry, AIC offers services that integrate research, industrial development and new businesses. It has the support of the Bizcay Provincial Council as well as the local city halls and several other organizations, both local and international.

In recent years, AIC has interacted a lot with Chinese companies such as car manufacturers BYD, SAIC Motor, BAIC Group and Chery Motors, suppliers, Hasco Group, Donghua and Shac as well as the organizations SIAM and EV100, along with energy companies such as Gotion and battery maker Hithium.

"We help to combine agendas helping Chinese companies, while companies from here (Spain and Europe) also work with Chinese customers. They have all come here looking to find a common interest," explained Raquel Pinan, the Internationalization Manager at AIC to Xinhua.

"China is very big in the electrification of vehicles and we look to sectors where we can help to fine-tune their capabilities."

Pinan explained that the concept of mutual benefits was very important in a "commercial and holistic approach that is very interesting as we look for specific links with different places," she said, adding that the model was well accepted in China.

"All car manufacturers in China have made efforts and invested in innovation, but they need to be able to compete in different markets, and to do that, they need to adapt to local contexts and values. We can help them identify value chains and adapt to European requirements in each case," Pinan said.

She believes the maritime and industrial heritage of the Basque Region in general and in particular Bizcay has been a huge help to AIC fitting so well into the area.

Bizcay was at the heart of the mining, iron, automobile and shipbuilding industries, and also has a tradition of looking out across the oceans.

"People here have always been explorers, such as (Juan Sebastian) Elcano, (who completed the first circumnavigation of the world). We have always been willing to study and to travel to work," she said.

There is a "common agenda" in the automobile industry to work together. "There are powerful companies, but nobody in the sector has all of the capabilities and we can act as an external agent to help and that is good for the industry and also good for Biscay," she explained.

Looking at the BYD vehicle spread on the workshop floor, Daniel told Xinhua that it used a "very intelligent strategy to produce a good performance at low cost," highlighting the use of two motors and also explaining that the battery is "much safer" than some used in other makes of electric vehicle.

By taking the car apart, Daniel said that at AIC, they had seen that BYD has a "slightly different focus" to other electric car makers in that "It's not as easy to repair, but it is easy to assemble and as a product, it is very good," he said.