Hungary’s effort to purge itself of all things Viktor Orban is now reverberating through the global auto industry. Under its former leader, the country positioned itself as a European hub in the battery supply chain, courting companies from China and South Korea that went on to set up plants making components for electric vehicles. But concern about the environmental impact became a political battleground and production at some facilities has been halted under new Prime Minister Peter Magyar.
Semcorp’s separator factory in Debrecen in eastern Hungary is entering its fifth month of shutdown after tests showed toxins in nearby soil. The Chinese company makes 40% of the world’s membranes, the thin layers that keep the positive and negative poles of a battery apart.
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