Samsung SDI says its new EV battery plant in Hungary will start production in 2018.
The 330,000sq m site in Göd, north of Budapest, is capable of producing batteries for 50,000 electric vehicles annually. Production is due to begin in the second quarter of next year.
The plant was previously used to produce Samsung SDI plasma display panels.
Samsung SDI is also producing electric vehicle batteries at plants in Ulsan, South Korea, and Xian, China.
“I expect the plant to contribute much to the growth of the European electric vehicle market,” Samsung SDI president Jun Young-hyun (left) said at a ceremony to mark completion of the construction.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (centre), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto and Korean Ambassador to Hungary Yim Geun-hyeong were also at the ceremony.
“Goed wanted Samsung SDI and Samsung SDI wanted to come back to Goed. That’s the reason for Hungarian government to support this project,” said the prime minister.
• Rival South Korean battery manufacturer SK Innovation is also planning to build a plant in Eastern Europe – either in Hungary or the Czech Republic – in 2018 and is currently looking at sites.