Volvo will build its own gig factory in Sweden
Volvo is taking further steps in its electrification strategy and will open a new research and development center in Gothenburg next year.
The move is one of a growing trend as manufacturers realize the need to own the entire battery design process and include further plans to open a gig factory (battery factory) in Sweden later this decade.
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The new center will be run in collaboration with its partner Northvolt and is part of Volvo’s major $ 4.6 billion electrification strategy to build more electric cars. Volvo’s plans are to make at least 50 percent of its sales electric by 2025 before the traditional combustion power is removed from the range by 2030.
Before that, Volvo will utilize battery production from Northvolt’s existing plant in Sweden, which will provide 15GWh of cells from 2024 before the opening of a large gigabyte factory.
The partnership with Volvo will help the company reach its emissions targets, as the manufacturer says that Northvolt’s methods for “sustainable battery production” reduce the environmental impact of electric car production.
As with Volkswagen’s latest new partnership – including with an Australian company buying “pure” lithium ion – Volvo is focusing on increasing battery production and will build a new battery factory in 2023.
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The Swedish car manufacturer plans for a production capacity of 50 GWh per year in that factory alone and they will be used in the next generation of pure electric Volvo and Polestar cars such as the next generation XC60 and XC90, which will include all-electric versions.
It is expected that the new research and development center in Gothenburg will create hundreds of new jobs and Volvo says that it will be “one of the few car brands that make the development and production of battery cells part of its technical capacity”.
Other manufacturers to enter into end-to-end battery solutions are Volkswagen with its gigantic factory in Germany and BMW, which also has an agreement with Northvolt.