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Swedish automaker Volvo Cars and EV battery manufacturer Northvolt have announced plans to build a 50-gigawatt-hour battery manufacturing plant in Gothenburg, western Sweden. The new plant will create up to 3,000 jobs and manufacture battery cells that are specifically developed for next-generation pure electric Volvo and Polestar cars.
Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson described the establishment of the new gigafactory as a "decisive move" to transform the automotive industry in Gothenburg and become the leading global supplier of sustainable batteries. Last year, Volvo Cars and Northvolt formed a joint venture to develop batteries for electric cars, including setting up a gigafactory for production and an R&D centre, with a total investment of about 30 billion Swedish crowns ($3.3 billion).
The battery factory will be constructed in two stages. Detail planning is currently underway for phase one, which entails 55 hectares. The location is already a national priority for industrial production and has existing infrastructure, simplifying planning. Volvo Cars hopes to sell 50% pure electric cars by the middle of this decade and fully electric vehicles only by 2030.
Battery production for Volvo Cars' and Polestar's fully electric models account for a significant part of each car's total life cycle carbon emissions. By working with Northvolt, Volvo Cars and Polestar can aim to reduce the environmental footprint attributable to battery sourcing and production for future cars.
The new factory will be powered by fossil-free energy, focusing on driving renewable energy capacity in the region and integrating engineering solutions that prioritize circularity and resource efficiency. This announcement not only illustrates the increasing regionalization of the battery supply chain to Europe, but the localization and even hyper-localization of cell production to OEM vehicle assembly.
Localizing production of EVs and batteries' production strengthens supply chains in the face of widespread disruption and a crisis-prone economic landscape. Bringing battery supply chains closer to the market also serves to lower the costs for battery production and ultimately to lower the cost of EVs.
Elsewhere in Europe, battery maker CATL announced a strategic partnership with German chemicals firm BASF in battery materials solutions to support the recycling of powertrain components.
Britishvolt and strategic partner Glencore are developing a battery recycling ecosystem in the UK, expected to be up and running by 2023. The plant will be Glencore and Britishvolt's first UK battery recycling facility with an expected annual processing capacity of a minimum of 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries.
Written by Andre Klynsmith
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