Volvo has appointed former Tesla executive Adrian Clarke to drive forward its battery cell production company, as part of the firm’s joint venture with Northvolt.
Clarke and Volvo will work with battery development partner Northvolt to open a new dedicated battery factory and a research and development centre in Gothenburg.
The research and development centre will be the first step in a £2.5 billion strategy to build batteries for future Volvo EVs. Volvo said the new site will create "a few hundred jobs" and makes Volvo "one of the few automotive brands to make battery cell development and production part of its end-to-end engineering capabilities".
The two firms have now signed a binding agreement to create a joint venture for the development and production of EV batteries, having announced plans for a partnership earlier this year.
Work on a dedicated battery factory will begin in 2023 and start operating at full capacity (50GWh per year) in 2026, eventually employing 3000 people. The power units will be used in "the next generation of pure-electric Volvo and Polestar cars", beginning with the successor to today's XC60, which Volvo has now confirmed will be fully electric.
“Our new battery plant will support our ambition to have a fully climate-neutral manufacturing network and secure a supply of high-quality batteries for years to come,” said Javier Varela, Head of Engineering and Operations at Volvo Cars.
“Through our partnership with Northvolt, we will also benefit greatly from an end-to-end battery value chain, from raw material to complete car, ensuring optimal integration in our cars,” Varela said.
Volvo plans to initially source 15GWh of batteries per year from Northvolt's existing Skellefteå facility from 2024 (when the XC60 EV is expected to be launched) before the new dedicated 'gigafactory' facility goes into service.
Join the debate
Add your comment
A couple of key points about battery factories:
They can be powered entirely by renewable electricity. (Like the exisiting Northvolt factory is.) They can recycle their own batteries at end of life, though this battery life could be 25 years or more. (The exisiting Northvolt factory can recycle batteries.) One day, it may be possible to create a circular economy of battery materials, without the need to extract any further resources. It's hard to see how any fossil fuel supply chain or fuel can ever compete with this. Seen any recycled diesel lately? Or recycled crude oil?
Be interesting how this pans out as BMW and Volkswagen have a massive share in northvolt and co develop batteries with northvolt.
"Lead battery production".
And here was me thinking all the automotive manufacturers used Li-Ion batteries...
;-)