Construction of Battery Plant in Surany Industrial Park Officially Launched

Surany, 28 October (TASR) - The construction of a new battery cell production plant in Surany Industrial Park (Nitra region) was officially launched on Tuesday, Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) confirmed during the ceremonial tapping of the foundation stone with government members in attendance on Tuesday. The strategic investor is a Slovak-Chinese joint venture called Gotion InoBat Batteries, which will invest a total of €1.2 billion in the battery plant. Pilot production is scheduled for September 2026, with full production expected to start in 2027, said Steven Cai, president of Gotion EMEA and chair of the Board of GIB EnergyX Slovakia. Sakova said that the construction of the battery plant is a strategic investment not only for the Surany region but also for Slovakia as a whole. "In today's rapidly changing world, especially amidst a major global energy revolution, the ways in which energy is generated are changing. We're moving away from traditional fossil-fuel sources toward renewables. We generate energy from light, the sun and wind, and this energy must also be stored in battery-storage systems," said Sakova. According to EU analyses, the demand for battery-storage systems and batteries overall is expected to increase ten-fold by 2032, she added. Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) also called the decision to build a battery cell production plant in Slovakia a forward-looking move. "Many warned us, including in the EU, when we spoke about this project before 2023 and also before this government was formed. Now the European Commission is all of a sudden coming forward with an official programme to support battery production for electric vehicles worth more than €8 billion. But we've a head start here - pilot production is to commence in 2026, and full production in 2027," he said. According to Fico, support for the project from the Slovak and Chinese governments will ensure that the deadlines are met. The government agreed at its session on Tuesday to hold regular inspections at approximately four-month intervals. The battery cell production plant will be built on a 94-hectare site. In the initial development phase, its capacity will be 20 gigawatt-hours, which may be expanded to 40 gigawatt-hours later. Around 1,300 jobs will be created in the first phase, and, following an expansion in the second phase, the plant's headcount is expected to increase to 3,500 employees. jrg/df