Northvolt announces new battery module factory in Europe

Northvolt, a battery manufacturing company started by two former Tesla supply chain executives, is announcing a new battery module factory in Europe.

The new project is separate from the company’s plan for a battery cell gigafactory in Sweden, which is already underway.

In the new factory announced today, Northvolt will instead use its battery cells to build battery modules for specific energy storage applications.

They are partnering with South Bay Solutions, a company specialized in manufacturing battery modules, to build the factory in Gdansk, Poland.

Peter Carlsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Northvolt, commented on the new project:

“We have seen a rapid increase in interest for complete battery solutions from several of our key customer segments during the past year. With this facility we will be able to meet that demand,”

They plan to be able to start production as soon as next year with a capacity of 10,000 battery modules per year.

The company says that production will ramp up with battery cell production in Sweden:

“Using the latest technology in analytics supported manufacturing techniques, production in Gdansk will begin in 2019 with an initial manufacturing capacity of 10 000 modules per year. The capacity will be expanded gradually over the following years as Northvolt ramps up its production of battery cells.”

The battery cell production facility is expected to start with a low volume capacity of 125 MWh per year, which they will then expand for the battery gigafactory.

The main factory is expected to start production in 2020 with a target capacity of 8 GWh per year and they will aim for 32 GWh of capacity once the entire factory will be completed in 2023.

Northvolt has the aspiration to serve the auto industry for vehicle electrification as well as other energy storage applications.

They started construction after securing a $68 million loan from InnovFin (EU Finance for Innovators’ Energy Demonstration Projects facility) and they have taken an investment from Volkswagen through their Scania division.