Just beyond the gardens and homes of an eastern Hungarian village, a gigaproject of Chinese industry is taking shape. Bulldozers and excavators are already preparing the land for construction of a nearly 550-acre electric vehicle battery plant. (May 26) (AP video by Bela Szandelszky) Contact online >>
Just beyond the gardens and homes of an eastern Hungarian village, a gigaproject of Chinese industry is taking shape. Bulldozers and excavators are already preparing the land for construction of a nearly 550-acre electric vehicle battery plant. (May 26) (AP video by Bela Szandelszky)
Residents gather in Debrecen, Hungary, during a demonstration against a factory that will produce batteries for electric vehicles built by a China-based company on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians are worried that a sprawling battery factory will exacerbate existing environmental problems and use up the country''s precious water supplies. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Construction is underway of a battery factory for electric vehicles built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) in Debrecen, Hungary on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians are worried that the factory will exacerbate existing environmental problems and use up the country''s precious water supplies. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Eva Kozma poses in front of the construction for a factory to produce batteries for electric vehicles built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Debrecen, Hungary. "This is progress, this is the future? Pouring concrete over nature while we know how polluting the factory is going to be?" she said. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Residents paint banners for a demonstration against a factory to produce batteries for electric vehicles built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, near Debrecen, Hungary. Residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians are worried that the factory will exacerbate existing environmental problems and use up the country''s precious water supplies. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A woman paints a banner for a demonstration against a factory to produce batteries for electric vehicles built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, near Debrecen, Hungary. Residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians are worried that the factory will exacerbate existing environmental problems and use up the country''s precious water supplies. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Eva Kozma shows her T-shirt she made for a demonstration against a factory to produce batteries for electric vehicles built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) near Debrecen, Hungary on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians are worried that the factory will exacerbate existing environmental problems and use up the country''s precious water supplies. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Eva Kozma and Eniko Pasztor prepare a speech for a demonstration against a factory to produce batteries for electric vehicles built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) near Debrecen, Hungary on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians are worried that the factory will exacerbate existing environmental problems and use up the country''s precious water supplies. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Eva Kozma speaks during a demonstration against a new factory to produce batteries for electric vehicles built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Debrecen, Hungary. "This is progress, this is the future? Pouring concrete over nature while we know how polluting the factory is going to be?" she said. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Residents gather in Debrecen, Hungary, during a demonstration against a factory that will produce batteries for electric vehicles on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians are worried that a sprawling battery factory will exacerbate existing environmental problems and use up the country''s precious water supplies. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Cracked and dry land is visible near construction of a battery factory for electric vehicles built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) in Debrecen, Hungary on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians are worried that the factory will exacerbate existing environmental problems and use up the country''s precious water supplies. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Bulldozers and excavators are already preparing the land for construction of a nearly 550-acre electric vehicle (EV) battery plant. The 7.3 billion euro ($7.9 billion) factory will be one of Hungary''s largest-ever foreign investments, and the government hopes it will make the Central European country a global hub of lithium-ion battery manufacturing in an era where governments are increasingly seeking to limit greenhouse gas emissions by switching to electric cars.
But residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians worry that the sprawling factory — built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) — will exacerbate existing environmental problems, hit the country''s precious water supplies and further undermine its economy to China.
"You have this viscerally bad feeling when you walk past the area where they are building. I simply feel this bad feeling in my stomach," said Eva Kozma, 47, a local mother who has joined with other residents of a village near the building site to oppose the project.
Kozma and others on the outskirts of Debrecen, Hungary''s second-largest city, say they were blindsided by the announcement that the factory would be built on valuable agricultural land. They fear that the large quantities of water diverted to the plant for cooling equipment will threaten their water supply, and that chemicals from the plant could leech into the soil and water, damaging the region''s natural resources.
That region, the Great Hungarian Plain, is threatened by desertification, a process where vegetation recedes due to high heat and low rainfall. Climate change-driven droughts and record heat waves in the area have compounded heavy water use by agriculture and depleted groundwater, resulting in devastating crop yields.
Last year, Hungary experienced its hottest summer on record, and nearly 2.5 million acres, or 20% of the country''s croplands, dried out. Experts say that unless a comprehensive water retention plan is enacted, much of the region will soon be unsuitable for agriculture.
Yet despite these environmental struggles, Hungary''s government believes that the European Union''s ambitions to phase out the manufacture of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035 present a unique opportunity for the country to take its place as a leader in EV battery production, and has embarked on a major push to attract such investments.
CATL''s 100 GWh battery plant in Debrecen, which is expected to create around 9,000 jobs, is the largest of a number of EV battery factories popping up around the country, part of the government''s strategy to serve foreign car manufacturers present in Hungary — like German carmakers Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz — as they transition to battery-powered vehicles.
Hungary''s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said earlier this month in Beijing that the presence of those German carmakers had "inspired" the recent spate of Chinese investments in EV battery plants, and that "the Chinese suppliers of these German companies continue to regard Hungary as the meeting point of East-West investment."
Gabor Varkonyi, an auto industry expert, agrees that the effort to attract battery makers makes good sense for Hungary''s economy — especially given that more than 20% of the country''s exports comes from the automotive industry.
"It is very much in Hungary''s interest for these investments to appear here, especially arm in arm with German technology," Varkonyi said. "This way, both can be tied here in the medium term, so that neither will be able to work successfully without the other. In this sense, it is an absolute national interest."
But Dalma Dedak, an environmental policy expert with WWF Hungary, says that despite intentions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making cars electric, there''s been a lack of environmental impact studies on the longer term consequences for Hungary''s air, soil and water.
Details have only been released on the first phase of the CATL plant''s multi-stage construction, she said, so its footprint on the environment once it is fully running remains unknown — something that has eroded trust between the affected population and the government.
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