Europe’s Tesla battery rival produces lithium-ion cells
Northvolt’s battery factory in northern Sweden in June.
Northvolt
The Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt announced on Wednesday that they have produced their first lithium-ion battery cell at the factory in Skellefteå, and are meeting the deadline to start production at the factory before the end of 2021[ads1].
Northvolt, which competes with Tesla’s battery production division and was valued at $ 12 billion by investors in June, said it is the first battery of its kind to have been fully designed, developed and assembled at a so-called gigabyte by a home-made European battery company. .
A gigabyte factory can be classified as a large-scale plant where the annual production is measured in gigawatt hours (GWh). Northvolt Ett in Skellefteå is expected to have an annual production of 60 GWh.
The battery cell went off the production line at the gig factory on Tuesday, Northvolt said.
“Of course, this first cell is just the beginning,” said Peter Carlsson, CEO and co-founder of Northvolt, in a statement.
“In the coming years, we look forward to Northvolt Ett expanding its production capacity sharply to enable the European transition to clean energy.”
The majority of the world’s electric car batteries are currently made in the USA and Asia, but Northvolt hopes to change this.
Despite being less than six years old, Northvolt has signed $ 30 billion contracts with customers including carmakers BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo and Polestar.
Northvolt said commercial deliveries will begin in 2022, adding that production capacity will increase to 60 gigawatt-hours in the coming years, which is enough to supply batteries to around 1 million electric vehicles.
The company has raised over $ 6.5 billion from a number of investors to help it expand its business.
The latest round of financing, Northvolt’s largest to date, was led by Goldman Sachs and VW together with new investors, including the Swedish pension funds AP1, AP2, AP3, AP4 and the Canadian pension provider OMERS. Former investors such as Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and investment management firm Baillie Gifford are also investing in the round.
Correction: This story has been updated to give Skellefteå the correct name as the place for the facility.
