Northvolt and Volvo pave the way for cell factory in Gothenburg
The Swedish Land and Environment Court has given Volvo Cars and Northvolt the go-ahead for their joint battery cell factory in Gothenburg, initially announced last year. The joint venture Novo Energy can thus start construction later this year.
The factory, with a potential annual capacity of up to 50 GWh, is expected to be operational in 2026 and employ more than 3,000 people. For Northvolt, the Novo plant is the second battery cell production facility in Sweden. It already has one in Skellefteå. “This is a milestone for us. Now the work can really begin and we can start preparing the ground for Sweden’s second, and Gothenburg’s first, gigafactory for the green batteries of the future,” says Adrian Clarke, CEO Novo Energy.
Volvo Cars and Northvolt announced plans for the factory in Gothenburg’s Torslanda district in February 2022. It is located close to Volvo’s car plant, and the goal was to have it up and running by 2025. At this point, Novo believes that 2026 is more realistic.
The two partners did not specify how much they are investing in the new plant. However, it was announced in 2022 that the duo intends to make a total investment of 30 billion Swedish kronor, about 2.9 billion euros. This sum, however, also includes the construction of a joint research facility around batteries.
According to an earlier announcement, the Novo factory will not only supply Volvo’s Torslanda plant. The battery cells will be installed in both Volvo-branded BEVs and Polestar vehicles. Polestar has so far manufactured its cars exclusively in China (from 2024, probably also in the USA). Details on the battery cell to be produced in the new factory are not available either. A press photo published last year showed a prismatic cell – but there were no details about the cell chemistry or energy content.
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