The Swedish Northvolt has announced the start of its
"giga-factory
" of electric batteries with the assembly of a first cell in its Skelleftea factory, 200 kilometers from the Arctic Circle.
It is “
a new chapter in European industrial history.
This cell is the first to have been entirely designed, developed and assembled by a battery company based in Europe,
”said the group.
Production should reach an annual capacity corresponding to the needs of 300,000 vehicles, or 16 GWh, within two years.
The American Tesla will soon launch its first factory in Europe (in Germany) and Asian groups have important sites in Poland and Hungary.
But so far no European has operated a factory the size of this one.
See also
Automotive: "The Tesla bubble will soon explode"
The site was chosen for its significant sources of renewable electricity, particularly hydroelectricity.
"
Each kilowatt hour (kWh) of battery requires 60 to 80 kWh of energy for its production,"
emphasizes Northvolt, who "
wants the greenest battery cell in the world
".
The factory already employs 500 people, of 56 nationalities, and will eventually have 3,000.
Catching up with China
Northvolt, a great European hope for batteries, has already won 30 billion dollars (27 billion euros) in orders from European manufacturers such as BMW, Volkswagen or Volvo, with whom it plans a second large factory in Europe.
Northvolt was founded in 2016 by Tesla alumni Peter Carlsson and Paolo Cerruti.
Its shareholders include Volkswagen, Goldman Sachs, BMW and the Swedish creator of Spotify.
It benefits from European loans.
Europe, which only manufactured 3% of batteries in a market dominated by China in 2020, aims to catch up and is targeting 25% of the world market by 2030.
