Northvolt is enhancing its EV batteries production with this investment

Northvolt indicated on Tuesday that it would begin construction of a gigafactory in Germany and anticipates producing the first batteries by 2025.

A statement from the Stockholm-based battery producer indicated that the Northvolt Drei facility will be built in Heide, Germany, and will manufacture lithium-ion batteries for the European market. The company said the plant would have a potential production capacity of 60 gigawatt-hours per year. This could be adequate for over a million electric vehicles.

Northvolt Drei is the company’s third gigafactory for EV battery production.

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Northvolt Drei —”drei” in German means “three”— will be the company’s third gigafactory, according to the company. It is important to note that Gigafactories are large-scale production facilities for electric car batteries. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, is primarily credited with coining the term. Northvolt claims that the factory’s location in Schleswig-Holstein will allow it to tap into the region’s electricity infrastructure. The company labeled the grid as:

“Characterized by a surplus of electricity generated by onshore and offshore wind power and reinforced by clean energy provided through grid interconnections to Denmark and Norway.”

CEO of Northvolt Peter Carlsson said:

“It matters how we produce a battery cell. If you use coal in your production, you embed a fair amount of CO2 into your battery, but if we use clean energy, we can build a very sustainable product. Our philosophy is that new energy-intensive industries, such as battery manufacturing, should be established in actual geographical proximity to where the clean energy is produced.”

Northvolt was launched in 2016 and has received funding from companies such as Volkswagen and Goldman Sachs.

Various companies opening gigagfactories in Europe

Interestingly,  besides Northvolt, there are other firms looking to build gigafactories in Germany, a country that considers an economic and industrial powerhouse rick in the high skilled labor force. For instance, Tesla is building a gigafactory in Berlin-Brandenburg. Furthermore, in December 2021, Volkswagen stated that it had 20% interest in Nortvolt and was looking to establish various gigafactories across Europe, including one in the Lower Saxony state in Germany.

Ford indicated on Monday that it had entered a non-binding MOU with South Korean-based SK On co and Turkish firm KOC to establish a JV to develop a commercial EV battery plant in Ankara.