Lithium-ion battery startup Northvolt has acquired a former paper mill site in Sweden where it will develop an EV battery gigafactory, capable of producing 100GWh of cathode materials from late 2024.
Northvolt will purchase the Kvarnsveden pulp and paper mill and surrounding industrial area in Borlange, which closed in 2021, and turn it into a manufacturing plant for active material and battery cells.
Peter Carlsson, Co-founder and CEO of Northvolt, said, “Since Northvolt’s founding, we have focused on circular battery production, but this is the first time we will reuse an entire production site. With its access to energy, water and the broad production know-how in the region, Kvarnsveden is an optimal site for a gigafactory.”
The new site will employ 1,000 people and use 100% renewable power. The gigafactory is expected to start operations in late 2024 and at full output, the company says, will be able to produce 100GWh of cathode material annually. The facility’s production volume will contribute to all markets that Northvolt operates in, including its battery energy storage systems.
Northvolt says it already has US$50 billion worth of orders – nearly 30% of which are from Volkswagen – and aims for 150GWh of annual cell production capacity by 2030.
The company, which has raised US$6.5 billion in enquiry financing to-date, produced its first lithium-ion cells at the turn of the year. It also announced a partnership with one of the battery energy storage sector’s largest system integrators Fluence to develop grid storage technology.
It has previously said it wants to manufacture the world’s most sustainable batteries through using renewable energy but also securing 50% of raw materials from recycled batteries.
