2024-02 SUSTAINABLE BUS

OUTLOOKS
THE CHAIN OF EV
BATTERIES
Not only the main cell and battery
manufacturers, but also many
supplier companies are already
present in Hungary with manufacturing
capacities, producing
vital components of EV batteries.
Just to list a few: cathode material
(EcoPro, Huayou Cobalt, Toyo
Ink), electrolyte (Soulbrain), separator
film (LG Toray, Semcorp,
W-Scope), aluminium and copper
foil (Lotte Aluminium and Volta
Energy Solutions/Doosan, respectively),
housing (NICE LMS,
Sangsin) and various other battery
parts (Bumchun Precision,
HALMS, INZI Controls, Mektec,
Sang-A Frontec, Shenzen Kedali,
Shinheung SEC), while recycling
industry is represented by companies
like Dongwha Electrolyte,
JWH and SungEel Hitech.
rates three plants in Hungary by now. Two
of them are located in Komárom - the same
northwestern Hungarian town which is the
home of BYD’s now-only European bus assembly
plant -, while the newest, third unit
recently started operation at Iváncsa, with
an almost twice higher production output
than the former two combined.
The original Komárom plant - which was
the first European plant of the company,
operating since the end of 2019 - produces
third-generation pouch battery cells, with a
manufacturing capacity of 7.5 GWh/year,
on a total of five assembly lines. Capacity
was increased by a further 9.8 GWh with
the commission of the second manufacturing
unit in 2022, which has a capability
to be scaled up to even 16 GWh/year.
The number of employees, originally
475, was also boosted by another 1,000.
These two plants mainly supply battery
cells for the electric vehicles of Daimler
and Volkswagen.
The company’s newest, third factory in
Hungary will operate at Iváncsa, a small
town 51 kilometers southwest of Budapest.
Just in order to perceive the dimensions
and the importance of this project,
at the time of its official announcement
in early 2021, it was considered to be not
only the largest green field investment in
the history of Hungary up to that point
(value: 1.9 billion euros), but also the largest
EV battery plant in Europe.
Although the factory buildings are ready
and production is expected to start soon, various
works are still remaining around the
plant, such as the construction of road and
industrial railway connections, and the set
up of service infrastructure. When operating
at full capacity (expected from mid-2024,
although the plant’s full completion is only
scheduled for 2028), the facility will provide
an annual production output of 30 GWh,
with a workforce of 2,500 people. SK Innovation
has ambitious plans to increase
its global annual production output to 125
GWh by 2025 and to 500 GWh by 2030, in
which they assign a large role to their Hungarian
manufacturing capacities, along with
their facilities in South Korea, China and
the United States.
SK Innovation’s Hungarian plants were
also involved in some safety issues: in
June 2023, dozens of workers experien-
ced sickness during the construction of the
Iváncsa plant after inhaling an unknown
chemical. This incident was also widely reported
in the local media.
Sunwoda
At the end of July Sunwoda also officially
announced that it would build a new battery
plant in Hungary. The Chinese company’s
first European manufacturing facility will
be established in Nyíregyháza, a city in
the northeastern region of the country, with
an initial investment of 245 million euros.
However, in medium to long term this may
increase to even nearly 1.5 billion euros,
creating more than 1,000 jobs locally. The
size of the planned production capacity and
the type of battery cells to be produced have
not yet been announced. Construction of the
factory will start in 2024, with production is
expected to begin at the end of 2025.
Sunwoda is considered among the top 10
EV battery manufacturers worldwide based
on market share, and is a supplier of
Volkswagen, the Renault-Nissan group and
Dongfeng, among others. However, customers
of the products to be manufactured in
Hungary have not yet been named, it was
only communicated that the new plant will
work for the “international market”.
To sum up, the building up of the new industry
(made not only of battery manufacturer
but also of low-voltage modules providers
and suppliers, as mentioned in the boxes) is
well on its way in Hungary. The number of
the settled companies is expected to increase
even more in the near future, for example
there are rumors about the possible arrival
of Hangke Technology, another EV battery
industry player from China.
Gellért Patthy, Magyarbusz [Info]
Sustainable mobility of the future
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