The Only Copper Foil Plant in Europe
Doosan Corp., the holding company of Doosan Group, announced on July 24 that it held a groundbreaking ceremony for an electric vehicle (EV) copper foil plant in the Tatabanya Industrial Park in northwestern Hungary on July 24.
A company official said, “The new plant is the only battery copper foil plant in Europe. It is expected to have price competitiveness as it is located near local EV battery producers. It will also make sure that the plant secures competitiveness in terms of quality safety.”
Copper foils for electric vehicles are expected to play a crucial role as a future growth engine for Doosan Group as demand is forecast to grow explosively mainly in global markets, including Europe.
Doosan entered the copper foil market in 2014 after acquiring Circuit Foil Luxembourg, a global supplier of cooper foils. Since then, the company has been developing highly efficient high-end copper foil products to improve travel distances and achieve the high density and weight reduction of batteries.
The plant, which is set to be completed by early next year, will produce 50,000 tons of battery copper foil a year, enough for batteries for about 2.2 million electric vehicles. Doosan had been preparing for construction of the plant on 144,000 square metered lot in Tatabanya Industrial Park from last year.
The firm expects that the business will show a rapid growth as not only major automakers but also electric vehicle battery manufacturers, such as LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation, are clustered in the region. The battery foil market is projected to grow to 975,000 tons, or 14.30 trillion won (US$12.13 billion) in 2025 from 75,000 tons, or 1 trillion won (US$848.54 million) in 2018, showing an annual growth of more than 40 percent, according to market tracker SNE Research.