FILE PHOTO: A Pure Electric sign is seen above a Volvo vehicle displayed during a media day for the Auto Shanghai show in Shanghai, China April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song
The new 50-gigawatt-hour (GWh) plant will create up to 3,000 jobs and make battery cells specifically developed for use in next-generation pure electric Volvo and Polestar cars, the Sweden-based companies said in separate statements.
Last year, both companies had announced plans for a joint venture to develop batteries for electric cars, including setting up a gigafactory for production and an R&D centre, a total investment of about 30 billion Swedish crowns ($3.3 billion).
They had said in December that the joint R&D centre, also located in Gothenburg, will begin operations this year.
Volvo Cars and Northvolt, whose biggest shareholder is Volkswagen, said on Friday they expect operations in the new plant to begin in 2025.
“Establishing this gigafactory in Gothenburg is a decisive move – both to continue to transform one of the most dynamic automotive regions in the world, and to become the leading global supplier of sustainable batteries,” Northvolt Chief Executive Officer Peter Carlsson said.
Volvo Cars, majority owned by China’s Geely Holding, aims to sell 50per cent pure electric cars by the middle of this decade and fully electric cars only by 2030.
Northvolt’s gigafactory in the Swedish town of Skelleftea assembled its first battery cell at the end of December, making it the first European company to design and manufacture a battery in Europe.
Northvolt, which rivals the likes of Tesla, LG Chem and CATL, has so far got more than $30 billion worth of contracts from customers such as BMW, Fluence, Scania, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars and Polestar.
($1 = 9.0703 Swedish crowns)