2023-04-21 23:21:50
Balázs Szilágyi also responds to concerns regarding the employment of foreign workers: the recruitment will be done locally, in the region of Debrecen, well endowed with profiles such as engineers thanks to its colleges and universities. It will take a thousand engineers, because the company relies heavily on automation.
This is one of the reasons for the choice of Debrecen by CATL which already has a factory in Europe: in Arnstadt in Thuringia (Germany). Chinese workers are also already numerous there, because CATL does not find enough German workers. And the Chinese work up to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week…
The other reason is the proximity of suppliers and customers, very close to many car manufacturer sites: BMW right next door, but also Audi, Mercedes, Opel, Suzuki elsewhere in the country. CATL plans to provide no less 30 automotive brands in Europe including BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Toyota, Volvo and Tesla. A whole ecosystem.
And there will be only a few Chinese executives employed in the factory, for its start-up. In addition, the milestone of 9,000 workers is only expected in 8 years, defends the Director of CATL.
The “giga factories” of batteries, the price to pay to stay in the race
Taking advantage of the conference on “giga factories” of batteries, we are also going to meet an essential man for this sector in Hungary: Péter Kaderják. As State Secretary in the Orban government, he defined this strategy which consists of attracting battery producers to Hungary. The arrival of the Chinese CATL is a victory, it fits perfectly into the opening to the east of the Hungarian government. Today Péter Kaderják has the cap of the green transition at the head of a lobby, the “Zero Carbon Hub” of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, supported by the government.
His message is clear:he battery factories do not pollute more than oil or pharmaceuticals and that is the price to pay if Europe wants to keep its car production: “Battery cell production is a chemical industry activity with all its pros and cons and indeed you need energy, you need water to produce that, but it’s the same for the pharmaceutical industry, the plastics industry, for the refining of petroleum products, so the price is there but the question is whether you want to be part of the global competition for this future technology, if so, you have to pay for it the price.”
Electric is greener than oil
A line of reasoning taken up by Máté Litkeidirector of the Institute for Climate Policy in Budapest.
Il understands the concerns of the inhabitants of Mikepèrcs but also incriminates “misinformation” led by the opposition on this file: “What is the difference between the oil industry and this battery industry? Only one thing: the oil has been there for decades, we are used to this kind of industrial activity, but not to the battery industry. Over time we will get used to this type of industrial activity with also more information to people, more transparency and it would be nice if the opposition parties did not use this situation to gain political advantage.”
The speech of Máté Litkei is well established and for him electricity is greener than oil, even if he recognizes that mining always has an impact on the environment, with the transformation and transport of lithium, for example. But as 40 to 60% of the value of the car is the modern battery, the choice to welcome this type of industry pays off in his eyes.
Water pollution with toxic solvents
And yet a few kilometers from Budapest, another battery factory, that of Samsung SDI, has been operating in Göd for 5 years already, and there, the fears of the inhabitants seem to be justified.
1682125243
#Hungary #revolt #residents #giga #factory #batteries #electric #cars
