In late 2020, the value of export of lithium-ion batteries reached some €400 million a month, and they now account for as much as 2 percent of all Poland's exports. That amounts to almost a third of European demand for electric vehicle batteries. Contact online >>
In late 2020, the value of export of lithium-ion batteries reached some €400 million a month, and they now account for as much as 2 percent of all Poland''s exports. That amounts to almost a third of European demand for electric vehicle batteries.
"Poland is very high up in the supply chain for the electric car sector. It is the fifth-biggest global supplier of lithium-ion car batteries or their components and the biggest one in Europe," said Jan Wiśniewski from PSPA, Poland''s e-mobility and alternative fuels association.
Poland''s scale is mostly due to an LG factory in Kobierzyce in the southwest of the country. The Korean company''s facility is Europe''s biggest factory of batteries for e-vehicles, producing 20 gigawatt-hours'' worth a year. It''s on course to become the biggest globally after the company announced a Polish government-supported €300 million expansion to produce 100 GWh worth of batteries a year. That is an estimated 60 percent of Europe''s current demand.
LG is not the only manufacturer choosing Poland to make lithium-ion car batteries or related products. Belgium''s Umicore is planning to build a battery component factory in central Poland and another one in Radzikowice in the southwest.
Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are also eyeing other Central European countries. Korea''s SK Innovation said last month that it plans to spend $2.3 billion to build a 30 GWh plant in Hungary; it already has two, one of them producing 7.5 GWh of batteries a year and another making 10 GWh. Slovakia''s InoBat Auto aims to build a 10 GWh plant in conjunction with Wildcat Discovery Technologies of the U.S.
Central Europe looks to replicate the model that made it a force to be reckoned with in the production of gasoline and diesel cars. The region doesn''t have any significant domestic carmakers, instead it''s relied on its cheap but skilled labor and close ties to carmaking hubs including Germany to build up huge car industries.
Poland hosts factories for Volkswagen, Fiat, Toyota and Opel as well as making trucks, buses and a vast number of subassemblies and components. Slovakia is the world''s largest per capita car producer, while the industry is also crucial to the economies of Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The trick is going to be for those countries to shift to final assembly of electric cars. For the moment, Central European countries largely host battery and parts plants, while EV production is mostly concentrated in Western Europe.
The region''s dalliance with foreign battery makers isn''t entirely in line with the European Union''s effort for the bloc to become self-sufficient in battery cell production by 2025, responding to what it sees as a competitive threat from Asian companies such as LG and its Chinese rivals that now dominate the market.
"I am confident that by 2025, the EU will be able to produce enough battery cells to meet the needs of the European automotive industry — and even to build our export capacity," European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovičsaidin November.
That same trend can be seen in the rest of the region. Only 918 new EVs were registered last year in Slovakia, and Hungary saw 3,046, according to ACEA, the European car lobby. Electric cars tend to be much more popular in wealthier parts of the Continent.
The Polish government has dreams of the country building its own e-car. The government last yearunveiledthe Izera, a demonstration version of Poland''s EV. Electromobility Poland wants to launch production in 2023 with plans to sell 60,000 in the first year of production, growing to over 100,000 in subsequent years — although experts question whether that''s realistic.
"The Izera project has not moved forward much," said Wojciech Drzewiecki, CEO of car market analysis firm Samar. "Also Poland moving on from being a maker of batteries for e-cars to host production of actual e-cars is still some time off because it''s still a very small market for those cars."
But if the country becomes a key supplier of batteries and other parts for EVs, that could prompt more effort to build up the country''s charging network; Poland has only 1,364 charging points compared to over 33,000 in Germany.
Based on Regulation 2023/1542 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2023 on batteries and waste batteries, repealing Directive 2006/66/EC and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1020.
The development and production of batteries are Europe’s strategic goals in the clean energy transition. This is mainly due to the fact that they are also a key part of the European automotive sector, and transport is responsible for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions and is the main cause of air pollution in EU cities.
EU agencies believe that the more widespread use of electric vehicles will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and harmful emissions from transport. It is assumed that in the years 2020-2030 the number of electric vehicles in the EU will increase to at least 30 million (currently there are 3.1 million).
The Council and the European Parliament adopted Regulation 2023/1542 of 12 July 2023 on batteries and waste batteries, amending Directive 2008/98/EC and Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and repealing Directive 2006/66/EC. Previous regulations of the European Union (EU) covered only the stage of withdrawing batteries from use. The current regulations focus in particular on the management of used batteries.
Electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries (referred to as: Li-on batteries). According to estimates by the World Economic Forum, to facilitate the production of electric cars and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy, global battery production needs to be increased 19 times. With the increase in the production of batteries, there is the issue of their recycling, which is necessary due to the fact that the raw materials used for their production are among the rare earth elements.
According to the regulation of the European Parliament, the recycling process means any activity related to the recycling of used batteries, excluding sorting or preparation for recycling, which can be carried out in an appropriate facility. The main objective of this regulation is the production of sustainable, efficient and safe batteries on the EU market, which will subsequently be recycled and reused. Thus, they will become a real source of valuable raw materials in a circular economy.
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