On June 15^th (local time), Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó led a group of government official visited SK Battery Hungary (SKBH)’s EV battery plant in Komárom city, Hungary. SKBH is in charge of operating SK Innovation’s first EV battery manufacturing plant in Europe.

▲ Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó visited SK Battery Hungary on June 15^th (local time)

Previously, Minister Szijjártó has met SK Innovation and SKBH’s representatives a few times at other events including the ground breaking ceremony of SKBH in 2018 and the ceremony for SK Innovation’s investment in the third battery plant in Hungary. This time, Minister Szijjártó was accompanied by Róbert Ésik – Chief Executive Officer of Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency, Attila Molnár – Komárom Mayor, and Czunyiné Bertalan Judit – member of the Hungarian Parliament.

▲ (Left) Róbert Ésik, Chief Executive Officer of Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency / (Right) SKBH holds a meeting with the group of guests led by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó on June 15^th

After the meeting with CEO of SKBH Han Sang-kyu and other leaders of the company, the group of guests took a tour around SKBH plant to learn more about the operation and manufacturing process inside the facility.

▲ The group of guests led by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó tour around SKBH’s factory on June 15^th

SKBH’s EV battery plant in Komárom started construction in March 2018 and began mass production in the first quarter last year with annual capacity of 7.5GWh. According to SK Innovation’s business report announced in March, SKBH’s operating profit in 2020 recorded KRW 690 million, a turn to surplus from the previous year. In the same period, the sales surged from KRW 1.7 billion to KRW 357.2 billion.

So far, SK Innovation has invested EUR 1.3 billion in SKBH and SK Battery Manufacturing (SKBM) – at the second EV battery plant of SK Innovation in Komarom. At the moment, the number of employees at SKBH has reached about 1,300. Meanwhile, about 600 people are working SKBM, which is under construction and will start mass production in December this year.

Minister Szijjártó praised the company for its efforts in creating jobs and stabilizing production. He said, “I hope that our friendly relationship can be further expanded based on the mutual trust that has been built up so far.”

Early this year, SK Innovation also announced its decision to build a third EV battery factory with an annual production capacity of 30GWh in Iváncsa, Hungary to expand its production base in Europe, a major EV market and where many global automakers are present.

Regarding this, Minister Szijjártó highlighted that “SK Innovation’s investment in Iváncsa is the largest greenfield investment in the history of Hungary,” and expected it will “directly create about 2,500 jobs in the future.” He added that the construction of such a huge factory requires infrastructure development, and thus the government will support SK Innovation as much as possible, particularly in matters related to transportation, power infrastructure, etc.

▲ Location map of SK Innovation’s EV battery plants in Europe