Although we are long past the point where the battery industry giants of the Far East are knocking on our (and Europe’s) door, this was the first time that a representative of a Chinese company was able to answer Hungarian journalists’ questions without any constraints in a press conference. Huayou Cobalt is also looking to set up a presence in the European Union, including a cathode factory on the outskirts of Ács in Komárom-Esztergom county. Sun Jun, CEO of Hungarian subsidiary BAMO Technology Hungary, presented the plans and the background to the deal.

It is telling that even the discussion was presented as a press event, as no Chinese company has ever communicated so openly with the Hungarian public. We can remember, for example, how the public consultation on the CATL plant in Debrecen went wrong.

It was also interesting to see how these Chinese companies think on such a huge scale. At the Huayou Cobalt headquarters, eighteen thousand employees live on three hundred hectares in apartments of forty square metres. With their own shops and laundry. BAMO intends to make the investment in Aichi a European showcase project.

Huayou Cobalt is not among the largest Chinese companies,

yet it has 60,000 employees worldwide and last year’s revenues were over eight billion euros.

Seventeen thousand miners work in Huayou Cobalt’s mines around the world, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for cobalt and in Indonesia and South Korea for nickel. The plan is to eventually recover as much of the raw material as possible from the batteries, reducing the scale of mining. Recycling becomes a priority when the nominal capacity of a battery falls below twenty percent.

The company manufactures batteries for mobile phones, laptops, notebooks and has also produced cathodes for batteries in e-cars to serve the electromobility market. Sun Jun says this is all in the name of the green transition.

Following the announcement of the project in late June, the mother company’s partners, such as Volkswagen and Audi, have already applied for the future cathode capacity. It is also important to make the whole production process as cheap as possible – while the production chain is quite long, from mining to recycling. Sixty per cent of the cost of an electric car is the battery, of which cathode material accounts for forty per cent. So, if cathode production becomes cheaper, electromobility will become more affordable for the masses.

In simple terms, this is what the deal would look like:

• the raw material is first transported from the Huayou Cobalt mines to the Chinese centre,
• from there they will be transported to Ács,
• the ingredients will be whipped together there,
• the cathode material is then purchased by a Chinese battery company,
• which is then installed in cars by German car manufacturers.

It is truly a global market.

Sun Jun then talked about the plans for Hungary. They will produce cathode material on forty-four hectares of land near Ács, with an annual output of 100,000 tonnes per year. They are trying to do this with green energy, building a solar farm and, thanks to state-of-the-art technology, they plan to achieve zero industrial waste water emissions. The investment is worth €1.3 billion, which, according to the CEO

“it’s not something we’ll pack up in a year or two, it’s here to stay”.

They are also expecting public support, but they are thinking mainly of EU funding, which would cover twenty percent of the total cost. If this is not forthcoming, they would not expect the Hungarian state to provide this level of support. But negotiations are still ongoing.

The plan is to employ nine hundred workers and build a housing estate for them in the area, where Sun Jun and his family will move. They would look for employees first in Ács, then in the region, then throughout Hungary; if they are not completely successful, they will integrate skilled workers from China, who will then train the Hungarians. BAMO’s aim is to train the local workforce as well, and to this end they have started talks with the universities of Győr and Óbuda. The Chinese will have to be replaced by professionals trained here.

want to show that electromobility can be done beautifully – they have made a surprising promise.

The company consumes 120 MW of electricity, 1 terawatt per year.

Battery production and cathode production are two completely different manufacturing processes. The input and output materials and the technology used are fundamentally different. In the manufacturing process, BAMO mixes two types of materials and passes them through an electric furnace. The resulting cathode material is not considered a hazardous material. One of the raw materials used in the production process is a mixture of nickel, manganese and cobalt, which is delivered to Hungary in a pre-prepared, mixed state and is not classified as 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. The environment is not polluted in any way, neither the soil, nor the water, nor the air. The factory will have state-of-the-art safety systems, filters and protective equipment, we are told.

The basic plans have already been drawn up in China, and now they are looking for a domestic design firm to tailor the ideas to the environment in Aichi. This could take up to six months, they said in response to Napi.hu’s enquiry. However, the licensing process has not even started yet. The idea is to start trial production in the second half of 2025 and mass production from 2026.

Currently, the company is in contact with EVE Power, a supplier to BMW, which is also present in Hungary, but talks have also started with CATL, another Chinese battery manufacturer.

BAMO’s project in Acs is expected to generate HUF 1 500 billion a year, of which the municipality would receive two percent in the form of business tax. The plant would have an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes. In response to our question, they told us that this would mean twenty-seven trucks a day, with five hundred and fifty tonnes of material handled – in each direction. Both inbound and finished product would be moved in powdered bags.

Freight is planned to be transported by boat and road, with lorries travelling on the M1 motorway, away from Acs.

Exactly where in the world the necessary lithium will be sourced from has not yet been decided, but European sources may be found.

There won’t be much Hungarian added value in the manufacturing process, as the raw materials and technology will come from China, but they want to put out a tender for the construction of the plant, in which Hungarian suppliers will be involved. BAMO, on the other hand, expects that the education of future Hungarian specialists will help them to catch up with this technology.

In response to our enquiries, they told us that discussions are ongoing with the locals. Next Tuesday, a joint working committee will be set up, bringing together local councillors, NGOs, mayors of the municipalities concerned and a delegate from BAMO. It will meet at least once a month. It will be a permanent forum, a permanent forum where the public can respond, where the people of Aichi can be kept informed of the state of the factory. But there will also be a classic mailbox where questions are also welcome. Anyone who sends a letter with a name and address will receive a personal reply from BAMO, while those who send an anonymous letter will be able to read it in the local newspaper. A public forum and a public opinion poll are also planned to ensure transparent two-way communication. Incidentally, although there was a lot of anger in the first few days, only three emails have been received from opponents since then, and only in the week of the announcement.

Source : www.economix.hu