Northvolt announced earlier this month the signing of a $1.1 billion convertible note to finance its expansion of EV battery cell and cathode material production in Europe.
Among the investors once again we can see the Volkswagen Group, but the list is pretty long: "AMF, AP funds 1-4 (via the co-owned company 4 to 1 Investments), ATP, Ava Investors, Baillie Gifford, Compagnia di San Paolo through Fondaco Growth, Folksam Group, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, IMAS Foundation, Olympia Group, OMERS Capital Markets, PCS Holding, Swedbank Robur, TM Capital and Volkswagen Group."
Together with previous rounds since 2017, Northvolt secured close to $8 billion in equity and debt, including $2.75 billion in June 2021.
According to the company, additional capital is required to support the expansion, as demand for batteries is high. Those two elements - capital and high demand gives a chance to create an all-new battery manufacturer in Europe.
Northvolt says that so far it has received orders for $55 billion of batteries, which is $5 billion more than indicated in May. The list of customers includes BMW, Fluence, Scania, Volvo Cars, and Volkswagen Group.
Northvolt's strategy is to be a vertically integrated battery manufacturer, starting from in-house cathode material production, battery cell production and recycling.
Production and shipping of batteries at the first plant in Sweden already started, while new manufacturing facilities are in the pipeline:
- Sweden: Northvolt Ett gigafactory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden (60 GWh/year)
(production since December 2021, deliveries since May 2022) - 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 facilities are:
-
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
-
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) -
Sweden: Northvolt Fem, cathode factory in Borlänge
(cathode materials for up to 100 GWh of batteries annually)
(start operations in late 2024)
