Northvolt reports having assembled the first lithium-ion battery cell at its Swedish fab. This is the first lithium-ion battery cell designed, developed and assembled by a European company in a gigafactory. Northvolt speaks of a milestone.
Sweden-based Northvolt was founded in 2016 by Peter Carlsson and Paolo Cerruti, both from US electric car manufacturer Tesla. Northvolt focuses on developing lithium-ion batteries. These are intended not only for use in electric cars, but also in other applications such as power grids and industrial environments.
Transforming lithium-ion battery production
The company wants to transform lithium-ion battery production. To do so, Northvolt is betting on a combination of scale, vertical integration and automated production. The company received a $350m loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance Northvolt Ett in Sweden in 2020. This is Europe's first gigafactory for lithium-ion batteries. The financing is part of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). This fund is one of the pillars of the Investment Plan for Europe.
Northvolt Ett is based in Skellefteå, located in northern Sweden. The company chose this location in view of the wide availability of raw materials and renewable energy sources. Northvolt sets itself a mission to produce batteries with an 80% lower carbon footprint than batteries produced with energy generated by coal-fired power plants. The company reports that batteries are 97% recycled at the end of their useful life.
The first battery cell rolled off the production line at Northvolt Ett on 28 December. The battery cell is of a prismatic cell format. Northvolt speaks of an important milestone since the announcement of Northvolt Ett in 2017. This plant will be scaled up and fully commissioned this year. First deliveries to commercial customers will also take place in 2022.
60 GWh per year
The battery cell was developed by Northvolt Labs in Västerås, Sweden. This is a Northvolt demonstration plant, which has been operational since the beginning of 2020. This plant has an annual production capacity of 350 MWh. Northvolt Ett is to be scaled up to an annual capacity of 60 GWh. With this, Northvolt aims to fulfil $30bn of contracts. BMW, Fluence, Scania, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars and Polestar, among others, have already signed contracts with Northvolt.
CEO Carlsson: "Today is a great milestone for Northvolt, on which the team has worked very hard. This first cell is of course only the beginning. In the coming years, we look forward to significantly expanding Northvolt Ett's production capacity to facilitate Europe's transition to clean energy."
Aurora
Northvolt announced another joint venture with Portuguese energy company Galp in December. Galp Energy is a privatised Portuguese oil and gas company. It was formed in 1999 from the merger of oil company Petrogal and gas company Gás de Portugal. It is headquartered in Lisbon. Galp is headed by CEO Andy Brown.
Together with Galp, Northvolt is setting up the joint venture Aurora. By joining forces, the parties aim to develop an integrated value chain around lithium-ion batteries. Eventually, Aurora aims to create the largest and most sustainable lithium conversion plant. The plant's production capacity should be around 35,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide suitable for batteries.
Lithium hydroxide is a requirement for the production of lithium-ion batteries. As part of the agreement, Northvolt will take 50% of the production capacity of this conversion plant to produce batteries at Northvolt Ett.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
