Northvolt opens Europe’s first self-grown 60GW Gigafactory in Sweden
Battery manufacturer Northvolt has started production at its Ett gigafabrik in northern Sweden, with its first prismatic lithium-ion cell from the assembly line yesterday.
Northvolt, the first all-European designed, developed and assembled battery manufacturer, plans to supply up to 60 GW per year of commercial battery capacity and has confirmed that they hold more than $ 30 billion in supply contracts.
Northvolt has raised $ 6.5 billion in nine rounds of financing since 2017, and it is planned that Northvolt One in SkellefteƄ, Sweden, will be followed by at least two more, with a capacity of 150 GW planned for 2030.
The escalation of the Northvolt One factory will continue until 2022, and the first customer deliveries are expected in the middle of the year.
“Today is a major milestone for Northvolt that the team has worked very hard to achieve,” said Northvolt CEO and co-founder Peter Carlsson.
“Obviously, this first cell is just the beginning. In the coming years, we look forward to Northvolt One expanding its production capacity sharply to enable the European transition to clean energy.”
The Volkswagen Group was one of Northvolt’s earliest investors, along with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Baillie Gifford, Scania and Stena Metall, and Northvolt confirmed that it holds supply contracts from Volkswagen, Volvo, Polestar, Scania and BMW. The contract with the Volkswagen Group alone is worth more than $ 14 billion.
More than 500 people are employed at the gig factory, which also has a core value of acquiring 50% of its raw materials from recycled batteries by 2030.