Europe’s Biggest Car Battery Plant Will Be In Poland

Polish Govt and Korean company LG Chem announced in a press conference this week the corporation’s plans to open a plant of battery plant to produce batteries for electric vehicles in Poland. The factory is to be the biggest such facility in Europe and offer batteries to top European carmakers. It is going to be located in a special economic zone Kostrzenice near Wrocław, a city in the west of Poland.

The new factory is to produce 100,000 batteries from this car battery plant in a year and employ 2,500 people. LG Chem is going to forge cooperation with Wrocław University of Technology in order to tap into the local engineering talent. The facility is planned to open in 2018. It will be managed by LG Chem’s subsidiary in Poland, LG Chem Wrocław Energy. Soon, one out of nine car batteries from a new battery plant in Europe may come from a Polish manufacturing facility.

The Korean investor had to apply for consent from the authorities to start operations in the special economic zone. It was issued to the company on Thursday. Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed the investment is in line with the government’s electromobility strategy and was delighted the chemical company chose Poland as the base for this huge project. This is one of the biggest industry investments in the country in recent years.

This car battery plant deal is revealed after demand for lithium-ion batteries for vehicles is expected to grow in the upcoming years. European Union is urging member states to implement more and more restricting policies with regard to greenhouse gases and air pollution. Some European cities are considering banning fuel vehicles from centers and simultaneously coming up with incentives for owners of “green” cars such as free parking or tax credits.

The number of sold electric cars in the European continent grows every year. Still, today only a little over 1% of all vehicles on European roads are electric. 90% of all EVs sold in Europe are in one of the following 6 countries: Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway.