Northvolt has become the first start-up battery manufacturer in Europe to begin production and commercial shipments of lithium-ion battery cells for automakers.
The first cells were produced at the Northvolt Ett gigafactory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden on December 28, 2021 and, according to Automotive News, the commercial shipments of cells for EVs started last week.
"The first deliveries, which came from Northvolt’s plant in Skelleftea, Sweden, were made on schedule, a spokesman said."
We don't know who is the first customer and or what is the volume, but it's a huge success. Only time will tell how competitive Northvolt will be compared to Asian manufacturers.
According to the company, it has contracts for batteries worth more than $50 billion, while the list of customers includes BMW, Volkswagen Group, Volvo and Polestar. Volkswagen Group holds about 20% stake in Northvolt.
It's expected that the plant in Skellefteå will employ 4,000 people (compared to 3,000 estimated previously) and produce up to 60 GWh of batteries annually at some point in the future.
In total, Northvolt has three battery gigafactory projects right now:
- Sweden: Northvolt Ett gigafactory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden (60 GWh/year)
- Sweden: joint venture with Volvo Cars in Gothenburg, Sweden (50 GWh/year)
(production start: 2025) - Germany: Northvolt Drei in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany (60 GWh/year)
(production start: 2025) - Total: 170 GWh/year
Other Northvolt's facilities are the recently opened Hydrovolt EV battery recycling plant in Norway, as well as the R&D facility in Sweden. Under construction is the Revolt Ett battery material recycling site:
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Norway: Hydrovolt (joint venture with Hydro) EV battery recycling plant in Fredrikstad
(12,000 tons of battery packs, which is the equivalent of 25,000 EV batteries) -
Sweden: Revolt Ett, a giga-scale recycling plant in Skellefteå
(up to 125,000 tons/year - enough to supply metals for up to 30 GWh of new batteries)
(under construction, start operations in 2023) - Sweden: Northvolt Labs (R&D) in Västerås,
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Poland: Northvolt Battery Systems Jeden - battery energy storage systems
(5 GWh/year in the first phase in 2022 and up to 12 GWh/year later)
Earlier this year, the company outlined a plan to build a 100 GWh/year cathode material gigafactory in Borlänge, Sweden.
