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Highlights
- The plant’s construction, which includes an R&D center, will begin next year.
- The batteries for Volvo and Polestar models are expected to start in 2025.
- The new facility would create 50-gigawatt-hour (GWh) of battery cells, enough to power half a million cars per year while creating up to 3,000 jobs.
European automobile company Volvo Car Group and Swedish battery maker Northvolt AB will build a battery gigafactory at the cost of SEK30 billion (US$3.3 billion) in Sweden's Gothenburg city in efforts to locally produce the EV batteries, the companies said on Friday.
The plant’s construction, which includes an R&D center, will begin next year. The batteries for Volvo and Polestar models are expected to start in 2025, the companies added.
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The two companies had revealed their joint venture in 2021. In December last year, they said the R&D center, also located in Gothenburg, will start operations in 2022.
The new facility would create 50-gigawatt-hour (GWh) of battery cells, enough to power half a million cars per year while creating up to 3,000 jobs.
According to the companies, the facility will focus on manufacturing batteries for next-gen electric Volvo and Polestar vehicles.
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Owned by China's Geely Holding, Volvo Cars plans to sell electric vehicles by 2025.
Northvolt assembled its first battery cell in Skelleftea, Sweden, in December, becoming the first European firm to design and manufacture EV batteries in Europe.
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Northvolt, whose main rivals include Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and LG Chem, has so far received contracts for over US$30 billion, the company said in December.
Its customer includes BMW, Fluence, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars, and Polestar.
Asian companies like Panasonic Corp currently lead in EV batter production. Volvo and Northvolt’s join venture are among few companies in Europe venturing into the industry. In 2021, Mercedes had partnered with Stellantis NV and TotalEnergies SE for battery production.
