One by one ...Things can change an awful lot in just three years.
Back in 2021, the opening of a giga factory in an icy city near the Arctic Circle was hailed as the starting point of a “green industrial revolution” that would change the world.
The factory was opened by an exciting and rapidly-expanding business called Northvolt that had a mission to build “the world’s greenest battery” to power electric vehicles.
Sweden’s then prime minister, Stefan Löfven, said the opening of Northvolt’s base in Skelleftea held huge significance in the transition away from oil and imported batteries from China — not just for Europe, but for the world.
His optimism did not seem misplaced at the time. Northvolt had attracted billions of dollars of investment from Wall St giants like Goldman Sachs and Blackrock and orders from the world’s biggest car companies including Volkswagen, BMW and Volvo.
But, in more recent times a far more sobering reality has emerged.
Last week, the beleaguered electric car battery maker revealed it would cut a quarter of its staff, as it struggles with strained finances and a slowdown in demand.
The brutal cuts in Sweden come as electric car sales slump in Europe and the continent lags far behind China in battery production. The company employs 6,500 people, according to its website. A staggering 1,600 of those will lose their jobs.
*** A major problem for Northvolt is that as demand for EVs has softened, the demand for the cells that power them has followed suit.
Even the most well-established battery-makers like South Korea’s SK On and LG Energy Solution have seen profits take a big hit — and the Swedish company has fared even worse.
Northvolt lost $1.74 billion last year — that’s four times its loss in 2022.
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