Andrada Group to Build Battery Recycling Plant in Alsózsolca, Hungary

Slovenia-based Andrada Group has announced plans to build a battery recycling plant in Alsózsolca, northeastern Hungary. The plant, which is being hailed as the world’s most sophisticated battery recycling facility, represents the largest ever Slovenian investment in Hungary, with an estimated value of HUF 10 billion (EUR 26.2 million).

Andrada is a company established in Hungary to recycle batteries used in electric vehicles. The founders are Slovenian entrepreneurs, experts, and automotive suppliers, including Hidria Holding manager Iztok Seljak, Peter Tibaut, battery producer TAB Mežica, and ACH Invest.

The investment will secure the capacity to recycle 10,000 tons of batteries per year and create 200 jobs. The company will also receive government support worth HUF 4.7 billion (EUR 12.3 million).

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó has stated that the recycling of batteries will be done without harming the environment and that Andrada is committed to environmental guidelines four times more stringent than those currently in force in Hungary.

Andrada’s technology, developed in Slovenia, is in line with the circular economy. Szijjártó also noted that the world’s automotive industry is switching to electric vehicles and that it is important to meet the world’s environmental goals.

Hungary is a world leader in the transition to electric cars and large investments are planned in the sector in the east of the country. According to Szijjártó, this will make it the second-largest producer of batteries for electric vehicles on a global scale.

Andrada CEO Peter Tibaut has stated that the factory will be the biggest Slovenian investment in Hungary to date and that it has strategic importance for the Hungarian government, which will support it financially. The company will initially employ 70 tech experts and up to 200 by 2024.

Andrada plans to cooperate with the University of Miskolc and the National Chemistry Institute in Ljubljana. The company has invited potential employees and anyone else interested in the project to attend open day events on September 26 and October 17.

The lithium-ion battery recycling facility planned in Alsózsolca will have modern, safe, and clean technology. Andrada claims that it has established a secure and closed-cycle industrial process that exceeds even the stringent industrial and environmental standards of Western Europe.

Andrada’s new high-tech facility will be situated in an existing industrial park and have no direct or indirect negative effects on the environment.