Hungarian Debrecen is becoming a center for electric cars. Thanks to Chinese companies

While the rest of Europe is trying to keep its distance from Chinese entrepreneurs, Hungary is not resisting the influx of Chinese factories. Especially those that will support the production of electric cars. Hungary thus belongs to the countries that have embarked on the transition to battery-powered cars on a large scale. In 2022, according to the ČTK agency, the country will rank fourth in the world with a total battery production capacity of 38 GWh, thanks in part to Chinese battery manufacturers setting up plants in the country.

One of them is the Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), which is building a battery plant in the city of Debrecen in the east of the country. The company was the world’s largest producer of batteries for electric cars in 2022. The company is investing more than 7.3 billion euros in a plant with a capacity of 100 GWh in Hungary.

The company started construction in 2022 and will cover 221 hectares of industrial area in Debrecen. The plant is to be the largest producer of batteries in Europe.

For CATL, Hungary is a strategic choice not only because of the high demand for electric cars. “Hungary is in the center of Europe and in close proximity to the biggest industrial players in the automotive industry,” explains Noemi Sidlová from the Hungarian division of CATL, according to the BBC website.

In Debrecen, for example, the German car manufacturer BMW already operates a plant, and in Győr, for example, Audi or Volkswagen already produce.

The Hungarian electric car market has been on the rise in recent years. According to data platform Statista, it could achieve revenues worth almost 810 million dollars, which is roughly 756 million euros, this year.

For the Hungarian government, which has promised CATL 800 million euros in the form of investment incentives, supporting the production of electric batteries is a priority. The country is well positioned to become a European leader in this area.

Although a number of other countries are also approaching “greener” alternatives to polluting cars in line with the efforts of the European Union, the Hungarian strategy is facing a wave of criticism.

Already last year, people in Debrecen protested over air pollution caused by factories, and dissatisfaction with the government’s actions continues. “It’s not a green future if everyone here gets cancer just because in other cities people who are luckier than us can fly around in their nice green cars,” local activist Eva Kozmová told the BBC.

Activists are also drawing attention to the condition of the groundwater, from which the factory should draw. Debrecen, which is located in a low-lying area, is struggling precisely with a lack of groundwater, which, according to activists, the Hungarian government is not solving, the BBC website wrote.

As part of its commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of battery production, CATL is planning to use electricity from renewable sources, but it is not the only factory in Debrecen that is bothering activists.

Other Chinese plants, such as Eve Energy, another battery producer, are also producing or planning to do so in the industrial area there. Another Chinese electric car manufacturer, BYD, which is a competitor of the American automaker Tesla, will soon be added.

The arrival of Chinese and other manufacturers in Debrecen is expected to create up to 15,000 jobs in the coming years, according to Le Monde. CATL alone will offer work to up to nine thousand people. However, according to some analysts, cheap labor mainly from Asian countries will get the job rather than the Hungarians themselves, as happened in other cases. For example, many Turkish workers participate in the construction of the BMW plant.

In the Czech Republic, the number of registered electric cars is still not comparable to other European powerhouses, for example Scandinavia. “The Czech Republic is at the bottom of the EU countries both currently and in the long term in terms of the share of battery electric cars. This year it is in second last place, only Croatia was behind us with a share of 1.3 percent,” Lukáš Kadula, representative of the Transport Research Center, described the state of domestic demand for the ČTK agency. According to experts, expanding the network of public charging stations could help to strengthen the trend.