Doosan’s groundbreaking ceremony for battery foil plant in Hungary

20190724

Doosan Corporation held the groundbreaking ceremony for the battery foil plant in Hungary on July 23. Participating in the ceremony held at the construction site of the plant located in the Tatabánya Industrial Complex in Hungary were Szijjártó Péter, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Choi Gyu-shik, Korean ambassador to Hungary, and Dong Hyeon-su, Vice Chairman of Doosan Corporation.

The ceremony was held to affirm the bilateral cooperation between Doosan and the Hungarian government for the battery foil plant in Hungary and wish for safe construction. Doosan has been preparing for the construction of the plant on the 144,000 ㎡ lot in the Tatabánya Industrial Complex since last year to produce battery foils, the core part of the battery for electric vehicles, and it plans to complete construction by early next year.

After the construction, Doosan Hungary’s battery foil plant is expected to produce 50,000 tons of battery foils, enough for 2.2 million electric vehicles, per year.

Doosan Hungary’s battery foil plant is Europe’s only battery foil plant and is expected to be cost-competitive based on savings on logistics cost since it is near local electric vehicle battery manufacturers. It is also seen to have excellent competitiveness in quality stability.

The Hungarian government has been very supportive as it provided various incentives for Doosan Hungary’s battery foil plant. Szijjártó Péter, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, also showed interest by holding a briefing in November when Doosan was preparing for the construction.

Doosan acquired Circuit Foil, the copper foil manufacturer in Luxembourg, in 2014 to secure the original technology and enter the battery foil market. The company has since developed high-end, efficient battery foil products to improve the operating distance of electric vehicles and to integrate and reduce further the weight of batteries and prepare for mass production.

“We are pleased that our strategic investment, based on the prediction that the battery foil of the battery for electric vehicles would grow, has been fruitful. We plan to foster the plant into the best battery foil production base with quality and price competitiveness in Europe,” said Doosan Vice Chairman Dong Hyeon-su.

Automobile manufacturers in Europe have been disclosing their plans to introduce electric vehicles since the EU announced the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emission. With the European battery industry growing explosively due to the expanded distribution of electric vehicles, the demand for its core part battery foil is expected to grow rapidly as well. According to electric vehicle and battery market survey firm SNE Research, the demand for battery foil is forecast to grow by more than 40% annually from 75,000 tons (worth about 1 trillion won) in 2018 to 975,000 tons (14.3 trillion won) by 2025.