Debrecen4U
November 5, 2026
International Battery Industry Representatives Gather in Debrecen
Debrecen is the first city outside Budapest to host Hungarian Battery Days, where participants are discussing ways to make battery manufacturing safer and more environmentally friendly. On the opening day, particular emphasis was also placed on corporate responsibility and strengthening public trust.
Participants in Hungarian Battery Days gathered in Debrecen to discuss the future of the battery industry, technological developments and environmental challenges. At the sixth edition of the professional event, business leaders, researchers and decision-makers are sharing their experience. For the first time, the conference is being held outside Budapest, with Debrecen said to have been chosen as the venue because of the growing international importance of its emerging battery and automotive industries. “We have 110 members and meet many foreign partners and business delegations from the Netherlands, as well as colleagues from the Czech Republic, South Korea and China. We can see that people abroad have learnt the name Debrecen, and we felt we should respond to this interest,” said Péter Kaderják, Managing Director of the Hungarian Battery Association.
A protest was also held before the event. Speaking to Médiacentrum Debrecen, Mayor László Papp said that although the presence of battery factories continued to be the subject of debate, energy storage played a key role in everyday life, stressing that safety must come first in manufacturing. He added that the previous government had tightened emission limits, while the current government was increasing penalties. In his view, these measures taken together could help ensure compliance with environmental regulations.
“Manufacturers will certainly be required to take environmental considerations and regulations into account, as well as people’s sense of safety. Hungarian Battery Days also aim, on the one hand, to draw attention to these objectives and processes and, on the other, to encourage dialogue so that the developments that have characterised Debrecen over the past 12 years genuinely make the city, the country and the world a better place,” Mayor László Papp emphasised.
Further research and financial support to help scale up production are also needed to make the European battery industry more competitive, said Ilka von Dalwigk. According to the Director General of the European battery industry association RECHARGE, the sector’s development must go hand in hand with compliance with environmental requirements and efforts to strengthen public acceptance. “All environmental requirements laid down by law must be met to demonstrate that batteries can be manufactured under safe conditions. At the same time, we need to understand how important batteries are to our society: they are used not only in electric cars but also in everyday life, in almost all our devices, from microphones to headphones,” Ilka von Dalwigk pointed out.
On the opening day of the conference, sustainability was a major topic alongside market prospects and new technologies. Discussions covered recycling and ways to reduce the water and energy consumption of manufacturing. The Managing Director of CATL’s Debrecen plant reported that the facility’s planned annual water consumption had been reduced by 40 per cent compared with the original plans. According to Qin Liang, a more advanced cooling system, laser cleaning and the recovery of waste heat are also helping to make operations more resource-efficient. “Precision manufacturing means less waste. Less waste, in turn, means that producing our batteries requires less water and energy. In Debrecen, we are putting this approach into practice step by step. We know that trust cannot be built with words, but with verifiable results,” said the Managing Director of CATL Debrecen.
The event continues on Thursday with visits to industrial facilities, where participants will have the opportunity to learn about the operations of CATL, BMW and separator film manufacturer SEMCORP, as well as the work of the Vehicle Laboratory at the University of Debrecen. The programme will also offer insights into the relationship between battery manufacturing and the automotive industry, and the role of engineering education and research.
Source: dehir.hu | Photo credit: Kölcsey Központ (Facebook)
