Volvo announces new 50 GWh battery gigafactory in Europe in partnership with Northvolt

Volvo has announced a new 50 GWh battery cell gigafactory coming to Europe in partnership with Northvolt.

Earlier this year, Volvo announced that it plans to only sell electric cars by 2030 and believes that the internal combustion engine has no future.

In order to make it happen, it needs to secure a large amount of battery cells, and now, that’s what the Swedish automaker is doing.

Northvolt, a battery startup founded by two former Tesla executives who worked on Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada with Panasonic, is becoming the go-to battery cell manufacturing partner for automakers in Europe.

After deals with Volkswagen and BMW, Volvo announced a new joint venture with Northvolt.

The Volvo group announced today:

“Volvo Car Group intends to establish a joint venture with leading Swedish battery company Northvolt to develop and produce more sustainable batteries, tailored to power the next generation of pure electric Volvo and Polestar cars.”

The company announced that the venture will first result in a research and development center in Sweden that will begin operations in 2022, but the bigger deal is an upcoming battery cell gigafactory.

They wrote in a press release:

“The planned joint venture will also establish a new gigafactory in Europe with a potential capacity of up to 50 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year. Production is scheduled to start in 2026.”

The new factory is expected to employ about 3,000 workers.

On top of the new factory, Volvo will also buy 15 GWh of battery cells per year from Northvolt’s Ett battery plant in Skellefteå, Sweden starting in 2024.

Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive at Volvo Car Group, commented on the announcement:

“By working with Northvolt we will secure a supply of high-quality, more sustainable battery cells for our pure electric cars. Working closely with Northvolt will also allow us to strengthen our in-house development capabilities.”

Peter Carlsson, Co-Founder and CEO of Northvolt, added:

“Volvo Cars and Polestar are industry leaders in the transition to electrification and perfect partners on the journey ahead as we aim to develop and produce the world’s most sustainable battery cells. We are proud to become their exclusive battery cell production partner in Europe.”

Volvo confirmed that the first battery cells coming out of the new gigafactory will power the new electric SUV that will be based on the XC60.

More details are expected to be released at the Volvo Cars Tech Moment to be held on June 30.