Something is happening Northvolt: As the “Financial Times” reports, the truck manufacturer Scania plans to form a consortium to buy the Northvolt research laboratory. In this way you want to preserve important battery know-how in Europe.
The Scania CEO Christian Levin (58) of the “Financial Times” said that his company in discussions with other investors, including the Swedish government and the EU Commission, was to buy Northvolt Labs from bankruptcy. Northvolt Labs is the research and development department of the battered Swedish battery manufacturer and, according to Levin, has some of the most intelligent researchers in Europe. Northvolt built the research facility in 2021 and invested around $ 750 for it.
“Crown Jewel” of the battery manufacturer
The research institution was described by former Northvolt executives as the company’s “crown juwel”. Northvolt Labs employs around 1,100 people who do research on new batteries and battery recycling. However, according to “FT”, former employees expressed that the mismanagement in the Northvolt battery factory also affects the research facility.
This is also why Northvolt filed for bankruptcy in November last year, and then a comprehensive restructuring process began. Scania had recently agreed to buy Northvolt’s industrial battery business for an unnamed sum.
According to Levin, it is unclear whether the laboratory will take over. He told the “FT” that talks with government representatives in both Brussels and Stockholm to receive public support were so far unsuccessful. He also warned that the truck companies in the EU were seriously at risk of missing the emission reduction targets set for 2030 because there was no demand for electric trucks. Therefore, they would face fines in the millions.
In the first quarter of 2025, battery-operated electric trucks would only make up 3.5 percent of sales. This proportion would have to increase to 35 percent in order to meet the emission standards for 2030: “If we do not achieve a certain sales volume, we simply become too expensive, and then we can neither in China still compete in Southeast Asia. “