On the evening of December 28 in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, Northvolta produced the first lithium-ion battery cell for automotive use. This was announced by the company that speaks of “a new chapter in European industrial history” since that cell “is the first completely designed, developed and assembled in a gigafactory by a European battery company”. The sector, in fact, is led by the Far East and the “battery factories” already operating in Europe are in charge of assembling the cells to form the battery pack, but not of producing the basic element.
The Northvolt Ett gigafactory was announced in 2017 and only went into business in the last days of 2021. 500 people work there. The first deliveries to customers are expected within the year. “In the next few years,” says the company, “Northvolt Ett will increase its production capacity up to 60 GWh per year to reach the production (worth 30 billion dollars) of the contracts signed with BMW, Scania, Volkswagen, Volvo and Polestar “.