Andrada Group to build battery recycling plant in Hungary
The Slovenian Andrada Group is planning to set up a recycling factory for electric car batteries in Alsózsolca in north-eastern Hungary. In the future, the plant should be able to recycle 10,000 tonnes of batteries annually.
According to the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, the Andrada Group will invest 10 billion forints (the equivalent of about 26 million euros) in the battery recycling plant. This is said to be the largest Slovenian investment in Hungary to date. Szijjártó also states that it will be able to recycle 10,000 tonnes of batteries per year. However, a schedule for the commissioning of the factory in Alsózsolca near Miskolc is not yet known.
Hungary’s government is supporting the project with 4.7 billion forints (about 12 million euros), which it says will help create 200 new jobs. Szijjártó emphasises that “this will ensure that the production of electric batteries is completely pollution-free and that the recycling of electric batteries is also guaranteed”. A fair number of battery cell factories are currently being built in Hungary, for example by Sunwoda, CATL and Eve Energy. Huayou Cobalt will also build its first European factory in Hungary to produce cathode material for electric car batteries. BYD also plans to build a battery assembly plant in the country.
The Andrada Group itself says that it uses an innovative Li-ion recycling technology “that was developed in-house and not only meets but exceeds Germany’s strict quality standards in terms of safety and environmental compatibility”. Why German standards in particular are mentioned is not clear from the group’s statement.
For this, Andrada indicates that there is already an existing building for the plant. In fact, the Group announced open days for residents and media representatives at the end of September and beginning of October and expressed that “the new high-tech plant is located in an already existing industrial park, without any direct or indirect negative impact on the environment”. In addition, 70 of the 200 positions are to be filled by the turn of the year. By the end of the year, “70 local engineers and technicians will be employed”, the Group wrote.
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