The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a €480 million loan to LG Chem Wroclaw Energy to develop a battery manufacturing facility in Poland.

LG Chem Wroclaw Energy is the Polish subsidiary of South Korean chemical company LG Chem Group.

According to the EIB, the funds will be used for constructing and operating highly automated and innovative manufacturing plants for advanced lithium-ion (li-ion) cells and batteries for battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs).

The EIB loan will support about one-third of the total project costs, which are estimated at €1.5 billion. The rest of the project costs will be taken care of by LG Chem Wroclaw Energy’s own resources and from other financing sources.

The additional manufacturing facilities will be built on LG Chem Wroclaw Energy’s industrial site in south-west Poland.

The EIB’s investment will help LG Chem Wroclaw Energy to boost its battery capacity output to about 65GWh, which would list the Polish facility among the largest lithium-ion cell factories in the world. Additionally, the Wroclaw facility will create more than 1,800 jobs, which would increase the overall workforce to 6,000 full-time employees by end-2022.

Jeong Joon Ha – CFO of LG Chem Wroclaw Energy said: “We would like to express our gratitude to the EIB team. The loan provides our company with the resources to create a competitive battery value chain in Europe and Poland.

“Furthermore, it enables the LG Chem Group to take the lead in terms of growth of the European battery market and community development.”

As per the EIB, the new battery manufacturing facility is expected to have an annual production capacity of more than 35GWh, which can power 500,000 zero-emission electric cars annually. The project will contribute towards the shift from fossil fuel-powered internal combustion engine-based vehicles towards electromobility and sustainable transport, said EIB.

The LG Chem Group’s facility is expected to feature a fully smart factory with various newly developed cutting-edge technologies. These will be used for producing the latest generation of high energy density li-ion electrodes, cells, modules and battery packs in bulk, which in turn will result in a notable improvement in the energy density, fast-charging capability, safety, and cost efficiency, as per the EIB.

Teresa Czerwińska – Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, who is in charge of Poland operations, said: “This first EIB operation with LG Chem Wroclaw Energy is significant for many reasons.

“It helps Europe to build a critical mass in electric vehicle battery production at a pivotal time of electric vehicle commercialisation in Europe; it promotes a shift to electromobility and to a greener automotive industry; and it helps create new qualified jobs in an industrial region in transition to a new economic model.”

  Electric Vehicle, European Investment Bank, Jeong Joon Ha, LG Chem Group, LG Chem Wroclaw Energy, Poland, Teresa Czerwińska