In the end Northvolt only had enough money for 1 week. No wonder car makers are cautious of battery makers and their claims etc. Our backing of European Car makers may not have been the best move on the table. Geely (Chinese) seem to be trying to hold approx 10% in all the major European brands. Anybody for a cheap battery plant or equipment?Northvolt AB is a Swedish battery developer and manufacturer, specialising in lithium-ion technology for electric vehicles.[4] Founded in 2015 by two former Tesla executives, it commissioned its first manufacturing plant in Skellefteå, Sweden in 2021 and announced plans for five others in Europe and North America. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 21, 2024.
History
[edit]The company was founded as SGF Energy in 2015 by Peter Carlsson (now CEO) and Paolo Cerruti (now CEO Northvolt North America) who were working in Supply Chain and Operations Planning at Tesla Motors prior to that.[4][5][6][7]
In 2017, the company changed its name to Northvolt.[8] It was founded with the aim to supply the automotive industry with electric vehicle batteries.[5][9] In May 2019, the European Investment Bank offered a loan of 3.5 billion SEK (about €350 million).[5]
In June of the same year, companies such as the BMW Group, Volkswagen Group, Goldman Sachs and Folksam announced that they would invest in the company. In total, the investments amounted to US$1 billion, framed as a way to challenge what was reported as the dominance of Tesla, Inc. and Asian companies such as Toyota and Nissan on the market for electric vehicle batteries.[10] The company started building a battery factory in Skellefteå, Sweden, with the aim to start production of electric vehicle batteries in 2021.[5] The first battery in Skellefteå was assembled in December 2021, and the first customer cell deliveries were made in 2022.[11][12]
In 2019, Volkswagen and Northvolt announced that a second factory would be built in Salzgitter, Germany, aiming to start production in 2023–2024. The aim was to start production at 16 GWh, and increase it to 24 GWh. In May 2020, Volkswagen announced that it would build the factory largely on its own, and invest 450 million euros in the construction.[5] On 16 July 2020, it was announced that Northvolt and BMW had signed a deal of 2 billion euros, for Northvolt to deliver batteries starting from 2024.[13] The deal with BMW was cancelled in June 2024 because of Northvolt not being able to deliver on time.[14] In 2019, Volkswagen invested 900 million Euros in Northvolt amounting to a share of 20% and a seat on the board.[15][16]
On 30 July 2020, a €350 million loan was issued to Northvolt by the European Investment Bank with the backing of the European Union's InnovFin programme to build a demonstration line for a new type of battery which it started producing at the end of 2019. As part of the Investment Plan for Europe, Northvolt received a $350 million loan for its Skellefteå factory from the EIB, using the guarantee of the European Fund for Strategic Investments.[4]
News website EURACTIV stated in an article that "Northvolt is quickly building a reputation as the EU’s go-to company for home-grown batteries."[9] On the same day, it was announced that Northvolt had been issued loans amounting to US$1.6 billion from a consortium of commercial banks, pension funds and other financial institutions.[17]
On 22 August 2023, Northvolt raised $1.2 billion amid plans to open a battery plant in Canada.[18] In December 2023, a classified interim report uncovered by Dagens industri showed that the company in the first nine months of 2023 performed with a net loss of about $1 billion (SEK 11 billion).[19] In January 2024 Northvolt raised another $5 billion through green lending.[20][21]
In 2024, the Northvolt factory in Sweden garnered nationwide media attention for four deaths among its employees. All within a few months. All four, seemingly healthy, had died outside of their work shifts.[22] With the third death Swedish police authorities launched a criminal investigation. Northvolt welcomed the investigation and said the incidents were "tragic", but also stressed that the factory employs over 5000 people, implying that the deaths are not as statistically significant as they may appear at first glance.[23][24] To date, no cause of death has been determined, and no causality has been found, but a leading Swedish toxicologist has argued for closure of the plant for a more thorough investigation to be conducted.[25][26]
On September 23, 2024, Northvolt announced that the company would implement extensive staff reductions. A total of 1,600 employees would be affected by the layoffs, distributed across 1,000 positions in Skellefteå, 400 in Västerås, and 200 in Stockholm. In conjunction with this, Northvolt also announced that the expansion of Northvolt Ett would be discontinued. The Northvolt Labs project in Västerås was paused, but the company would retain the fundamental platforms to enable continued product development.[27][28]
On November 21, 2024, Northvolt filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. The company stated it ran out of cash entirely and only had enough for them to operate one more week. The company secured $100 million in financing and will operate normally throughout the procedure.[29]
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