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SK Innovation opens 3 battery factories in Hungary
Investment of KRW 1,267.4 billion, fully operational target in 2024
98 football fields … the largest battery factory in history
SK Innovation is building the largest battery plant for electric vehicles in Hungary. The production capacity of the new plant is 30GWh, the largest among the production bases in the world. The scale of investment is also the largest among European factories at 2.6 trillion won by 2028.
SK Innovation held the board of directors on the 28th and decided an investment schedule of around 1,267 trillion won to the Hungarian subsidiary of batteries for electric vehicles, and announced it on the 29th.
The production capacity of the third plant in Europe, to be built at the Hungarian Ivan Car, is 30GWh. It is more than 1.5 times bigger than the first and second factories in Komarom, Hungary. Construction began in the third quarter of this year and a total of 2.6 trillion won ($ 2.29 billion) will be invested sequentially through 2028. The funds invested this time correspond to 50% of the total investment.
SK Innovation has secured an area of about 700,000 square meters (210,000 pyeong) in Ivan Car, about 50 km southwest of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. It is the same area as 98 soccer fields. When this plant is fully operational from 2024, it will be able to produce batteries equivalent to 430,000 electric vehicles per year (driving more than 400 km per charge, based on a capacity of 70 KWh). Ivancha was chosen as the final location because it has well-equipped logistics and infrastructure, such as railways and roads, and is close to the Budapest metropolitan area, facilitating the supply and demand for labor. In line with the establishment of the third plant in Europe, SK Innovation has proposed a target for electric vehicle battery production capacity of ▲ 85GWh in 2023 and above 125GWh in 2025. The existing target was 100 GWh in 2025.
▲ Panoramic view of the SK 1 innovation plant in Hungary
SK Innovation decided to make this investment in collaboration with the Hungarian government. SK Innovation’s top management and the Hungarian government met this afternoon to make an official investment decision on video. The meeting was attended by SK Innovation CEO Kim Joon, Ji Dong-seop, Battery Business Executive Director, Hungarian Seeyart Peter, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mollner Turbo Mayor Ivan Car, and Implant Robert, Director of the Investment Agency. Plant 1 (7.5GWh) is in operation. This year, the Yancheng and Huizhou plants in China will be fully operational with a production scale of 20KWh.
The second plant in Hungary and the first plant in Georgia, each with a scale of 9.8 GWh, will start mass production from the first quarter of next year. The second factory in the US is also being built with a scale of 11.7 GWh with the goal of mass production by 2023. Including the third plant in Hungary, SK Innovation will have six production plants for batteries for electric vehicles in all the world.
This large-scale investment by SK Innovation is interpreted as a willingness to overcome the uncertainties arising from the battery litigation with LG Energy Solutions with bold investments.
An official from SK Innovation said, “The current order balance for electric vehicle batteries is 550 GWh, and in terms of sales, it exceeds 70 trillion won.” President General Joon Kim said, “We will contribute to the development of the global electric vehicle industry ecosystem and advance as a leading company with this investment.” They stated their aspirations.
Reporter Lee Young-jun [email protected]
