InoBat to Build Giga Factory of Electric Vehicle Batteries in Cuprija – Subsidies of EUR 419 Million Agreed with Government of Serbia

The Slovakian company InoBat has announced that it has signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia and the Municipality of Cuprija about a giga factory for the production and recycling of electric vehicle batteries.

– We are pleased to announce Cuprija as the location for our Serbia Giga Factory and Recycling Project code named Lion, which has been under development for the past 2 years with IFC – the company announced.

The company’s press release adds that Project Lion will be the second InoBat Giga Factory in the CEE, to supply offtake growth from InoBat’s Voderady R&D Pilot line and mini-Giga Factory in Slovakia.

The company also says that Project Lion has achieved an indicative Incentives Package of c. EUR 419 million from the Serbian Government.

The facility in Cuprija, InoBat says on its website, will assemble energy storage (ESS) solutions as well as electric vehicle (EV) batteries as well as recycling facilities in line with InoBat’s C2C circular value-chain development platform.

– We selected Cuprija as InoBat’s second CEE site because of its welcoming and eager local community and hands-on and proactive municipality government. Another major “Plus Point” of Cuprija is the potential for co-developing our own distributed power smart grid and electricity from renewable sources for own consumption – Marian Bocek, InoBat’s CEO, said.

Ana Brnabic, Prime Minister of the Serbian government, commented that the government was pleased to support InoBat’s investment in Serbia, “delivering jobs in the new decarbonized circular economy,” the company’s press release says.

Maria Paulina Mogollon, IFC Manager of Upstream & Advisory for Manufacturing, Agribusiness & Services (MAS) in Europe & Latin America, said that the development of this project would put Serbia on the map of European low-carbon and circular renewable energy storage solutions and electric vehicle battery value chains.

InoBat, the announcement says, specializes in pioneering research, development, design, manufacturing, supply and recycling of innovative electric batteries. It focuses on the automotive, commercial vehicle, motorsport, and aerospace sectors. It is added that InoBat is backed by a strong consortium of strategic investors and partners, among which is Rio Tinto.

Let us remind that, at the end of last year, InoBat signed, with the Government of Serbia, declarations of intent to build an electric vehicle battery factory in Serbia with a capacity of up to 32 gigawatt hours. As Reuters reported, the plant would open with an initial capacity of 4 GWh in 2025.

InoBat said at the time that it wanted to build a gigafactory in western Europe and one in eastern Europe.

B. P.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Opština Ćuprija

IFC

InoBat Auto doo Beograd

InoBat Slovakia

Government of Serbia

Ministry of Finance

Municipality of Ćuprija

IFC

Maria Paulina Mogollon

Ana Brnabić

Marian Bocek

production of batteries for eVehicles

recycling of batteries for eVehicles

construction of factory for production of batteries in Cuprija

Lion project