Most of Hungary's electric vehicle investment comes from China, and its growth rate far exceeds that of Germany and France, making it the first small power in Europe

On the topic of electric vehicles, the whole of Europe has begun to cool down. First, the two major "power generators" of Germany and France stopped, and then Italy began to decline. The three major electric pioneers of the past have now become drags without exception.

Why is Europe like this? They agreed to transform to electric vehicles for the sake of green mountains and clear waters, but as soon as they entered the market and had a fight with Chinese manufacturers, they decisively backed out.

It seems that the only countries in Europe that are still fond of electric cars are small countries like Hungary. According to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, from January to July this year, sales of pure electric passenger cars in Hungary increased by 60% year-on-year.

What is the growth rate?

During the same period, electric car sales in Europe as a whole fell by 0.4%, but Hungary far outperformed the market. As of now, the number of electric cars in Hungary has reached 60,000.

In 2023, the cumulative sales of new cars in Hungary reached 213,400 units, of which 4,846 were pure electric vehicles related to "new energy", a year-on-year increase of 28.7%; 4,693 were plug-in hybrid models, a year-on-year increase of 17.5%; and 37,231 were hybrid models, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%.

It is not easy to achieve a substantial growth in January-July 2024 despite the general trend of declining sales of new energy vehicles in Europe. In addition to the high growth rate, Hungary is also quite powerful in terms of new energy infrastructure and subsidy policies.

At the end of 2023, the Hungarian government proposed a 90 billion forint electric vehicle support plan to subsidize companies that produce new energy vehicles and individuals who purchase electric vehicles. The amount is not large, only about 237 million euros. But unlike Germany and France, Hungary is seriously implementing this subsidy plan and is not wavering.

At the same time, Hungary also plans to build more than 100 new public charging stations outside the capital Budapest, and provide preferential loan conditions and other conveniences to enterprises or individuals who build these charging stations. By the end of 2023, Hungary had 2,507 public charging facilities in operation, a year-on-year increase of 12.5%.

If these figures were placed in the Chinese market, they would at most be equivalent to the county level. However, against the backdrop of the decline of the entire European electric vehicle industry, Hungary has played the role of "Europe's Little Strongman".

It is worth mentioning that Hungary has a certain level of new energy vehicle industry chain, which even many major countries do not have. This is also a prerequisite for it to vigorously develop new energy vehicles.

Hungary is a small country in Central Europe, with an area of ​​only 94,000 square kilometers and a total population of less than 10 million. However, it has gathered more than 740 automobile and parts suppliers, contributing nearly one-third of Hungary's manufacturing output. In the world, only three countries have Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW luxury car brand factories at the same time, namely China, Germany and Hungary, so it is called "Europe's Detroit" in the industry.

With such a foundation, Hungary is ambitious about developing electric vehicles. As early as 2016, Hungary formulated an electric vehicle development plan. With Hungary's size, it is unlikely to develop a strong local brand, but as a crossroads connecting the East and the West, Hungary has maximized its locational advantages.

In 2023, Hungary's foreign direct investment reached 13 billion euros, which is an astonishing figure among many small countries. Among them, the total investment from China reached 7.6 billion euros, accounting for 58%, including a large amount of investment from Chinese manufacturers such as BYD and CATL. As early as 2022, CATL decided to invest 7.34 billion euros in Hungary to build a new battery factory.

So far, Hungary has attracted leading power battery companies such as CATL, EVE Energy, SK, and Samsung SDI to invest and set up factories in the country. According to the official plan of Hungary, Hungary will increase its power battery production capacity to 207GWh by 2031, ranking second in Europe.

In addition, traditional manufacturers such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Suzuki are also expanding their electric vehicle production lines based on their existing Hungarian factories, and are expected to put new pure electric vehicles into production in 2025.

What’s even more amazing is that Hungary, a small country, actually has a certain say in the upstream raw materials field of electric vehicles, which is an advantage that many major automobile countries do not have.

In November 2023, Hungary discovered a large amount of lithium resources in an oil field in the country and is currently conducting extraction tests. Hungary, which has factories of major power battery giants, has even begun planning to localize the power battery supply chain.

Compared with Germany and France, Hungary has enjoyed a stable political situation and strong policy continuity over the past 20 years, which is also an important advantage for the development of electric vehicles in Hungary. According to the relevant plan of the Hungarian government, emissions will be reduced by 50% at the beginning of the next decade. If nothing unexpected happens, Hungary's emission reduction policy will not be reversed, and the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles will not change overnight.

Hungary's new energy vehicle industry is a typical example of small but beautiful. It is hard to think of any local car brands in Hungary, but as a link and bridge between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, China and the European Union, Hungary's new energy vehicle industry has benefited from all kinds of advantages, and has surpassed most major automobile countries in terms of supply chain completeness, making it the first small powerhouse in the field of new energy vehicles in Europe.

In the foreseeable future, Hungary will continue to adhere to its new energy vehicle policy. Emission reduction is a major trend, and there may be reversals or setbacks in the middle, but the overall trend will not change. Hungary itself has a relatively strong automotive industry base, so it can handle this overwhelming wealth.

The global new energy vehicle industry needs heavyweight players like China and the United States, as well as giant new energy manufacturers like BYD and Tesla, but it also needs "small cockroach" players like Hungary, doesn't it?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.