Ramp-up of battery manufacturing for Europe’s automotive business wasn’t that straightforward as pioneering firm Northvolt first thought.
“Growth of Northvolt Ett enlargement challenge will likely be suspended,” the corporate writes in a press release about the way forward for the manufacturing facility in Skellefteå.
The transfer comes amid monetary challenges as progress in manufacturing of electrical automobiles in Europe slows down.
It’s a difficult macroeconomic local weather, Northvolt explains because it forecasts about 1,600 redundancies in Sweden. A thousand of these are working on the giga-plant in Skellefteå. The plant produced its first cell in late 2021 at a time when gross sales of EVs skyrocketed.
The corporate will now give attention to operating the 16 GWh Northvolt Ett as an alternative of increasing a further 30 GWh of annual cell manufacturing capability.
Northvolt produces batteries for a number of European carmakers together with Volvo and Volkswagen.
Skellefteå manufacturing isn’t the one northern battery manufacturing facility in hassle. In Mo i Rana, northern Norway, Freyr Battery in late August knowledgeable staff there can be a substantial discount in workforce because the not but operational plant was placed on maintain.