EcoPro BM starts cathode material production in Hungary

The South Korean battery materials manufacturer EcoPro BM has begun operations at its cathode material plant in Debrecen, Hungary. The facility will produce enough cathode material for the high-voltage batteries of 600,000 electric vehicles per year.

Although electrive readers may already know the city of Debrecen in eastern Hungary because of the new BMW plant, EcoPro BM’s new cathode material factory in Debrecen has no direct link to the latter. The company produces materials there for Samsung SDI’s battery plant in Goed near Budapest. Samsung SDI has long collaborated with BMW, but it is not among the known suppliers for BMW’s Neue Klasse plant in Debrecen. Those suppliers are in fact CATL and EVE Energy.

Construction of EcoPro BM’s new cathode material plant in Debrecen started in April 2023. At that time, the company spoke of an annual capacity of 108,000 tonnes of cathode material for batteries destined for 1.35 million electric cars. At the inauguration, however, EcoPro BM stated it will initially produce only 54,000 tonnes of cathode materials for around 600,000 electric vehicles per year. The Korean manufacturer intends to reach the higher figures later with an additional expansion stage. The site will also produce 8,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide annually and 16,000 cubic metres of oxygen per hour.

“Thanks to the Hungarian government’s comprehensive and rapid one-stop support, we completed the first European production base by a Korean cathode material company just three years after construction began in 2023,” said company founder Lee Dong-chae at the opening ceremony. “This marks a new beginning for EcoPro and Europe to shape the future together at a time when the EV industry is rapidly changing.” The EU is pursuing the strategic goal of localising the battery supply chain.

EcoPro BM will initially manufacture high-nickel NCA and NCM cathode materials at the plant and will expand production to medium-nickel and LFP products depending on customer demand. The nickel used comes from a low-cost refinery in Indonesia.

The site of the new cathode material facility covers 440,000 square metres. Earlier information indicated an investment of 728 million euros and the creation of more than 600 jobs.

koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, koreaherald.com

This article was first published by Florian Treiß for electrive’s German edition.