J ust three years ago, Sweden’s then prime minister, Stefan Löfven, visited Northvolt’s base near the Arctic Circle in Skellefteå – Europe’s

‘Huge losses’: Sweden fears for future of batterymaker Northvolt

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2024-10-01 20:00:08

J ust three years ago, Sweden’s then prime minister, Stefan Löfven, visited Northvolt’s base near the Arctic Circle in Skellefteå – Europe’s first homegrown battery gigafactory – and declared the city “the future” in the fight against the climate crisis. Its work had huge significance for Sweden and the world, the Social Democrat said.

The arrival of the battery manufacturer was not only supposed to be a flagship project for Sweden’s “green industrial revolution” but hailed as Europe’s big hope against dependence on oil and imported batteries from China.

Since its foundation in 2016 to build “the world’s greenest battery”, Northvolt’s rapid rise has attracted billions of dollars of investment and orders from the world’s biggest car companies including Volkswagen, BMW and Volvo.

But as Europe’s electric car market struggles, much of this enthusiasm is starting to look like fantasy. In June, BMW cancelled a $2.5bn contract with Northvolt. And last week, amid a spiralling cashflow crisis, the battery manufacturer announced it was making 1,600 redundancies and suspending expansion of its Northvolt Ett factory in Skellefteå.