In Hungary, residents of a ‘giga factory’ of batteries for electric cars protest

Balas Silaki Also responds to concerns about the employment of foreign workers: The Recruiting will be done locally in the Debrecen area, It has profiles like engineers thanks to its colleges and universities. This will require a thousand engineers as the company relies heavily on automation.

This is one of the reasons why Debrecen was chosen by CATL, which already has a factory in Europe: Arnstadt in Thuringia (Germany). Chinese workers are also already plentiful there because CATL cannot find enough German workers. And the Chinese work up to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week…

Another reason is the proximity of suppliers and customers, being very close to many car manufacturer sites: BMW is on the right side, but Audi, Mercedes, Opel, Suzuki are elsewhere in the country. CATL plans to offer less 30 automotive brands in Europe including BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Toyota, Volvo and Tesla. An entire ecosystem.

And only a handful of Chinese executives will be employed to start the factory. Additionally, the milestone of 9,000 workers is expected in just 8 years Director of CATL.

“Giga factories” of batteries, the price to pay to stay in the race

Taking advantage of the conference on “giga factories” of batteries, we are also going to meet the essential man for this sector in Hungary: Peter Kaderjak. As Secretary of State in the Orbán government, he defined this strategy of attracting battery manufacturers to Hungary. The arrival of the Chinese CATL is a success that perfectly matches the Hungarian government’s opening to the east. Today Peter Kaderjak At the head of the lobby of the government-backed Budapest University of Technology and Economics is the “Zero Carbon Hub” hat of green change.

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His message is clear:Battery factories are no more polluting than oil or pharmaceuticals, and that is the price Europe must pay if it wants to maintain its car production: “Battery cell production is a chemical industry activity with all its pros and cons, of course you need energy, you need water to produce it, but it’s the same for the pharmaceutical industry, the plastic industry, the refining of petroleum products, so the price is part of the global competition for this future technology. It’s a question of whether you want to be, and if so, you’ll pay the price.”

Electricity is greener than oil

Line of reasoning taken by Spouse LitkeDirector of the Institute for Climate Policy in Budapest.

He Mike Bergs understands the concerns of residents, but accuses “Wrong information“Leading the Opposition on this file:”What is the difference between the oil industry and this battery industry? Just one thing: we’ve had oil for decades and we’re used to this kind of industrial activity, but not in the battery industry. With time, we will get used to this kind of industrial action and it would be better if the people are more informed, more transparent and the opposition parties don’t use this situation for political gain.

speech that Spouse Litke Well established and for him electricity is greener than oil, although he recognizes that mining always has an impact on the environment, through the transformation and transport of lithium. But since 40 to 60% of a car’s value is a modern battery, the choice to welcome this type of industry pays off in his view.

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Water pollution with toxic solvents

Another battery factory of Samsung SDI, a few kilometers from Budapest, has already been operating in Göd for 5 years, and the fears of the residents seem to be justified.

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