All the details of the mysterious Chinese factory revealed
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, announced in mid-June that China’s Huayou Cobalt would create 900 new jobs with a huge investment of HUF 520 billion. Bamo Technology Hungary Kft, a member of the group, is building its first European plant in Ács, where it will produce cathodes for batteries.
During the background discussion on the plant, the company’s managers repeatedly stressed that it is intended as a showcase investment, where the most modern technological conditions will be provided.
The latest technology is coming
The Shanghai-based Huayou Cobalt Group was founded in 2002 and currently employs 60,000 people. Last year, the company’s turnover exceeded 8 billion forints, mainly in electrification and battery manufacturing related to green transition. It entered the market by manufacturing energy storage batteries for phones and notebooks.
The investment and production of Huayou Cobalt in Hungary will be carried out by the Bamo subsidiary. The parent company started to open up to electric cars in 2014 and, as Sun Jun, CEO of Bamo, put it, “climate change predicts that going green is an inevitable process. That is why we have made huge improvements in the past”.
AT THE SAME TIME, ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACING THE INDUSTRY TODAY IS TECHNOLOGICAL UPGRADING.
Sun Jun pointed out that there are still relatively few electric cars in Hungary, and that more cost-effective production is needed to achieve wider uptake. In China, these cars are available at 30 percent lower prices. This is mainly due to the fact that 60 percent of the production cost of an electric car is the battery itself, of which 40 percent is the cathode value.
If we can bring this cost down, the finished product itself will be cheaper. That is why we are thinking about vertical integration
– added Sun Jun. The group has lithium, cobalt and nickel mines in Africa and Indonesia. Their direct and indirect partners include CATL, LGES, Samsung, Audi, Apple, Ford, BMW and many other big names.
They chose a carpenter
Sun Jun recalled that about 20 sites were considered for the plant, but that the site in Ács was chosen because of the logistical and environmental conditions. The 44-hectare site would be able to produce up to 100 tonnes of cathode – “as green as possible”. The energy consumption of the factory is expected to be one terawatt hour per year. A solar farm will be built as part of the project.
They want to run their 24-hour production with the greenest energy possible. A special body has been set up in the region to ensure a permanent dialogue with the population. “There is also a mailbox where anyone can contact us with any question,” said Ferenc Fülöp, who also pointed out that although the project has received a lot of press coverage, they have received only three questions so far.
Nine hundred workers are expected to be employed, for whom a housing estate would be built. “We want to employ workers mainly from the area around Ács, but if that is not enough, we will also try to cover the Komárom area. At the same time, if we can’t meet the labour demand, we plan to bring in skilled Chinese workers,” added Ferenc Fülöp, Director of Public Relations and Government Relations.
The final product will not be toxic
The experts also reminded the audience that battery production and cathode production are two completely different production processes. The inputs and outputs are fundamentally different, as is the technology used. During production, two types of materials are mixed and passed through an electric furnace.
THE RESULTING CATHODE MATERIAL IS NOT CONSIDERED A HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE.
“One of the raw materials used in the production is a mixture of nickel, manganese and cobalt, which arrives in Hungary already prepared and mixed and is not considered a hazardous material. The other raw material, lithium salt, is classified as a hazardous material and is treated accordingly during transport, storage and use. The materials are used in a closed chain in a safe environment. No solvents, acids or alkalis are used. We do not pollute the environment in any way, neither the soil, nor the water, nor the air. The factory will have the latest safety systems, filters and protective equipment,” said Ferenc Fülöp.
It also highlighted:
The water used in the facility is purified and reused in a closed loop, mainly for cooling, so the facility’s industrial effluent emissions are virtually zero. We also plan to collect rainwater from the entire 44 hectares of the facility and purify it and reuse it. To meet a significant part of our daily energy needs, we will build a solar farm next to and inside the plant, and the remaining energy will be sourced from green electricity producers.
The energy use of the new factory will also be largely green because users such as BMW and Volkswagen have strict requirements for their suppliers. These global companies will only work with companies that commit to fully meeting the quality standards they expect and are able to maintain a stable German quality.
They also mentioned state subsidies: negotiations are ongoing and they hope that the total subsidy, including EU subsidies, will be less than 20%. It is planned to start trial production in the second half of 2025 and mass production from 2026.
Source : www.index.hu
