SK Innovation said on Thursday it plans to invest around 1 trillion won ($920 million) in building an electric vehicle battery plant in Hungary and in expanding production facilities for EV batteries in Korea.

The battery maker said it would set aside 840 billion won for the Hungary plant that begins construction in February next year. By 2020, the plant will be capable of producing 7.5 gigawatt-hours per year of battery. 


With SK‘s latest decision, all three Korean battery makers have now advanced into Europe.

LG Chem is building a plant in Poland capable of producing 100,000 batteries per year in Poland from next year. Samsung SDI is also expected to produce 50,000 in Hungary from 2018.

SK Innovation said the remaining 200 billion won will be used for expanding lithium-ion battery separators in Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong Province, and battery cells in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province.

“We decided to expand the plants for battery separators and cells due to the explosive growth of the global EV market and solid demand for digital devices,” a SK Innovation spokesperson said.

By Shin Ji-hyes (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)