Watch out, Tesla — you’re not the only one increasing global battery production with that gigafactory in Nevada. Samsung SDI announced that its own large battery factory will be built in Hungary, beginning in the second half of 2018.
Technically, Samsung’s idea can also be deemed a gigafactory, since it has a planned production in the gigawatt-hours. Although the Korean battery maker didn’t confirm the planned output, it claims an “annual capacity of batteries for 50,000 pure electrics vehicles.”
Though it’s nowhere near Tesla’s planned output, Samsung is looking at an average of 50 kWh per vehicle, totaling to ~2.5 GWh of capacity. According to the company, it’s a significant increase in what will be a short period of time.
The electronics giant released a rendering of the plant and shared a photo of the pouch cells it plans to produce at the plant, which can be seen below.
The factory will be built from existing facilities previously used for display production located in Geod, Hungary, at a distance of 25 kilometers north of Budapest in a site area of about 330,000 square miles. The plant will serve European automotive manufacturers in Central and Eastern Europe.
Executive vice president and head of automotive and ESS Business division, Jeong SehWoong, said of the announcement, “By launching construction for the plant in Hungary, we now can set up the global triangular production structure for electric vehicle batteries. We can especially provide higher quality services to European customers in Europe by generating synergy with SDIBS.”
According to Samsung SDI, it will invest 400 billion Won (equivalent to $358 million) in the new facility.
Earlier this year, Tesla began taking delivery of important quantities of battery cells from Samsung SDI. The automaker then said the cells will be used for its Tesla Energy products and not its vehicles.
Source: Samsung SDI
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