The Doosan Corporation has become the latest Korean player beating a path to Hungary to compete for a slice of Europe’s electric vehicle battery components business.
The company is to start building a battery-grade copper foil manufacturing plant in Tatabánya, northwestern Hungary this year— and begin producing 50,000 tons of the material annually from mid-2019.
Doosan will be following in the tracks of SK Innovation and Samsung SDI, which are already investing in EV battery plants in the eastern European nation.
Doosan said its battery foil production capacity will be “enough to supply batteries for 2.2 million vehicles” when the plant opens in Tatabánya, northwestern Hungary.
Talks aimed at clinching supply deals with “global electric car and battery companies” for the Hungary operation are already under way, Doosan said.
The company said its manufacturing base in Hungary would also help to burnish its credentials as a battery market supplier as it seeks to expand its business into the US and China.
Doosan has been researching and developing battery foil since it acquired Luxembourg-based Circuit Foil, a copper foil manufacturer, in 2014. The company said it had since completed the design and development of “high-efficiency, high-end battery pack products” for EVs.
BBB reported earlier this year that another Asian battery player, Japan-based lead-acid company GS Yuasa was expanding its push into the lithium battery business by building a EUR3.5 million ($4.2m) manufacturing plant in Hungary.
