Northvolt factory to be almost as big as Tesla’s “Gigafactory”: Siemens enters Europe’s largest battery factory

05/25/2018

Northvolt factory to be almost as big as Tesla’s “Gigafactory” Siemens enters the largest battery factory in Europe

North volts

Northvolt: The Swedish battery factory should be finished in 2023 and make Tesla’s “Gigafactory” competition

Germany’s largest industrial group Siemens Show stock market chart gets a foot in the door at the planned largest battery factory in Europe. The Munich-based industrial group should help build up the production of lithium-ion batteries in Sweden, as Siemens announced on Friday. In addition, Bayern invest the relatively manageable amount of ten million euros in the billions project called Northvolt, which has called the former Tesla manager Peter Carlsson to life.

The factory will deliver 2023 batteries with a capacity of 32 gigawatt hours (GWh) when completed. This is almost as much as the planned “gigafactory” of electric car builder Tesla in the Nevada desert. “This will be a lighthouse project for Europe,” said Siemens CEO Jan Mrosik.

Northvolt will later supply Siemens with lithium-ion batteries for trains or power plants, for example. So far, the batteries for electric cars and other applications are produced almost exclusively in Asia.

Leading manufacturers are Panasonic, LG Chem and CATL from China. “This is a complete inefficient supply chain,” said Carlsson in Munich. Shipping thousands of batteries up to 600 kilograms to Europe is expensive and dangerous. In addition, Europe must be independent of the Asians.

From 2023, Northvolt wants to produce batteries for 400,000 cars a year

Northvolt wants to produce from 2023 on batteries for 400,000 cars per year. “Europe would need 15 such factories,” Carlsson predicted with a view to the planned demand for electric cars. “No car manufacturer today wants to produce even large-scale batteries,” said Carlsson. “That suits us well.”

With the truck and bus manufacturer Scania, Northvolt has allied itself as well as with the Siemens rival ABB. The Swiss also invest ten million euros in the project and are to supply the process and energy technology for the factory. According to Carlsson, Siemens should provide the competitive advantage that one needs over the Asians with its “digital factory”.

Recently, an 80 to 100 million euro test production line in Västeras is under construction. In the summer, Carlsson wants to start building a factory in Skelleftea, northern Sweden, which is expected to start producing large-scale production in 2020. Northvolt is currently working with public funds to finance the four billion euros it will cost the factory, Carlsson said.

la / reuters

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