Volvo and Northvolt’s Battery Gigafactory will be built in Sweden
Volvo Cars and Northvolt have officially revealed that their joint battery manufacturing facility, which was announced in 2021, will be built in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The two partners previously decided to build a joint research and development center in Gothenburg. Considering that there is Volvo Car’s largest car factory in the area, the choice of Gothenburg for the battery factory is also the next logical step.
“The Swedish location of the facility, which will be built in Torslanda, Gothenburg, offers benefits in the form of a direct route into Volvo Cars’ largest car factory, access to infrastructure, a strong pipeline of renewable energy supply and relevant work skills, as well as its proximity to both Volvo Cars and Northvolt’s R & D units. “
The R&D facility will be put into operation in 2022, with a few hundred jobs. Construction of the battery giant factory will start in 2023, while production of jointly developed battery cells will start in 2025 (volume production 2026). An interesting thing is that a former Tesla boss Adrian Clarke has been appointed to lead the production company (Northvolt’s CEO Peter Carlsson is also a former Tesla boss).
As previously indicated, the potential production capacity will be 50 GWh per year. According to Volvo, that should be enough for about 500,000 cars. This is a clear indication of a 100 kWh battery pack.
The two partners have shown an example of a prismatic battery cell with the Northvolt and Volvo logo. Volvo Cars intends to engage in the development and production of battery cells. Earlier, the company also announced its own electric motor production.
The cells from the factory will be used in the next generation Volvo as well as in Polestar electric cars.
“… state-of-the-art battery cells, specially developed for use in the next generation of pure Volvo and Polestar electric cars.”
“The collaboration between Volvo Cars and Northvolt will focus on developing custom batteries and vehicle integration concepts that give Volvo and Polestar drivers what they want, such as long range and fast charging times.”
Volvo Cars and Northvolt battery gigafactory in brief:
- Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
- Construction start: 2023
- Production: start 2025, volume 2026
- Capacity: potential up to 50 GWh / year
- Jobs: up to 3,000
- Use: Volvo and Polestar cars
- Local R&D site to be completed in 2022 (a few hundred jobs)
- a total of SEK 30 billion (EUR 2.9 billion / USD 3.3 billion) investments in R&D and gigafactory
In 2030, Volvo aims to only produce and sell fully electric cars. Polestar is already fully electric (excluding the initial and very limited Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid).
In June 2021, Volvo placed an initial order for 15 GWh of Northvolt battery cells per year, starting in 2024. These cells come, at least initially, from Northvolt’s primary plant.
Northvolt produced its very first battery cell at its Northvolt A gig factory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, during the last days of 2021. This facility will have a production capacity of up to 60 GWh / year. Volkswagen Group holds approximately 20% of the shares in Northvolt.
Northvolt also has a battery recycling program, Revolt, at Northvolt Labs in Västerås, Sweden. The company plans to build Revolt Ett, a gig-scale recycling facility, adjacent to the Northvolt Ett gigafactory in Skellefteå, Sweden. Construction will start during the first quarter of 2022.