MADRID - Spain will use European Union funds to create a public-private consortium with VW's Spanish unit SEAT and Iberdrola to build the country's first factory for electric-car batteries, Industry Minister Reyes Maroto said on Thursday.

The consortium will be open to other members and will help Spain begin local production of electric cars, Maroto told an event organised by the UGT union.

SEAT had previously called such a factory "essential" in the push for domestic production of electric vehicles. 

(Reporting by Nathan Allen; Editing by Andrei Khalip) ((n.allen@thomsonreuters.com; +34 617 792 131;))