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Northvolt is a Swedish-founded, European energy storage company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The company designs, develops and manufactures lithium-ion battery cells and complete battery systems for automobile, heavy transport, mining, and energy industries, as well as portable devices.

Northvolt is developing a manufacturing setup and process design to deliver what it terms a ‘green battery’, with minimal carbon and environmental footprint.

As of September 2019, Northvolt is developing two large lithium-ion battery manufacturing plants: Northvolt Ett in Skellefteå, Sweden with an annual production capacity of 32 GWh, and a Northvolt-Volkswagen joint venture factory in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, Germany with an annual production capacity of 16 GWh.

Northvolt is also establishing a smaller manufacturing plant, Northvolt Labs, in Västerås, Sweden, which is anticipated to start operations by the end of 2019.

In June 2019, Northvolt announced it had completed a €950 million ($1 billion) equity capital raise, which was led by Volkswagen Group and Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division.

In May 2019, the European Investment Bank (EIB) provided agreement to support the financing of Northvolt Ett with a commitment of €350 million. The EIB financing was supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).

Major industrial partners of Northvolt include ABB, BMW Group, Epiroc, Scania, Siemens, Vattenfall, Vestas and Volkswagen Group.

History
Northvolt was founded in 2016 by Peter Carlsson (Northvolt Chief Executive Officer), Paolo Cerruti (Northvolt Chief Operating Officer), Carl-Erik Lagercrantz (Chairman of the Board of Northvolt and CEO at Vargas Holding) and Harald Mix (Founder of Altor Equity Partners).

Carlsson and Cerruti are engineers who held senior positions at Tesla Motors in Palo Alto, California.

Financing
In June 2019, Northvolt completed a €950 million ($1 billion) equity capital raise, which was led by Volkswagen Group and Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, alongside AMF, ATP, BMW Group, Folksam Group and IMAS Foundation. The capital raise provided funding to enable the first 16 GWh phase of development of large-scale commercial manufacturing capacity of Northvolt Ett.

In May 2019, the European Investment Bank provided in-principle agreement to support the debt financing of Northvolt Ett with a commitment of €350 million. The financing would be supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.

Through 2018, Northvolt’s partnership funding round secured financing from industrial and institutional investors ABB, BMW, European Investment Bank, Norwegian aluminium company Hydro, Canadian lithium hydroxide supplier Nemaska Lithium, Scania, Japanese battery production equipment manufacturer SECI, Siemens, Swedish power provider Skellefteå Kraft, the Swedish Energy Agency, Vattenfall, and Vestas. The round advanced development and growth of Northvolt and also secured the establishment of the industrialization plant Northvolt Labs.

In January 2017, Northvolt closed an early project funding round of €12 million ($15 million) with financial backing from EIT InnoEnergy, Stena, Swedish Energy Agency, Vattenfall, and Vinnova. The financing enabled Northvolt project planning for Northvolt Labs and Northvolt Ett facilities.

Strategy
Northvolt is aiming to establish a new European manufacturing base for lithium-ion battery cells to support the transition to battery powered electric vehicles and sustainable energy generation and use. A key driver for establishing Northvolt, according to its founders, was the emerging market for lithium-ion batteries in Europe resulting from electric vehicles.

Northvolt is aiming to vertically integrate key activities of the lithium-ion battery supply chain into its own in-house operations ; an approach that is in contrast to conventional lithium-ion battery manufacturers which typically outsource multiple upstream activities to third parties. At its factory Northvolt Ett, the company will produce active material, electrodes, and other cell components, for cell assembly into prismatic cell and cylindrical cell formats.

A central aspect to Northvolt’s strategy is a ‘green battery’ concept, which refers to the company’s model for lithium-ion cells which incorporates sustainable sourcing of raw materials, manufacturing with renewable energy and a minimal environmental footprint, and a program for recycling of end-of-life batteries.

According to Northvolt, the green battery is "a concept that begins with a blueprint for sustainable Li-ion battery manufacture, but extends into a fully built-out, robust ecosystem for recovery and recycling of batteries."

Northvolt is active in developing and implementing multiple technologies to advance its manufacturing capacity and support its products, including automation, machine learning, traceability and recycling technologies. Northvolt has stated that it intends to use a form of hydrometallurgy treatment within its recycling program.

Northvolt Ett
Northvolt’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant is Northvolt Ett, which will be Europe’s first lithium-ion manufacturing factory established by a European company. Northvolt Ett will host active material preparation, cell assembly, and recycling capacities. The factory is sited on a 500.000 square meter plot of land, located east of Skellefteå, in Västerbotten, Sweden. Northvolt Ett has been designed for a production capacity of 32 GWh per year. Northvolt has stated that the development of Northvolt Ett is split between two phases, each providing 16 GWh of production capacity. Large-scale production at Northvolt Ett is expected to begin in 2021.

In June 2018, Northvolt received an environmental permit for establishing 8 GWh of operational capacity at Northvolt Ett from the Land and Environment Court in Umeå, Sweden. In April 2019, Northvolt received an environmental permit from the Land and Environment Court in Umeå, Sweden, which granted an extension of operational capacity at Northvolt Ett from 8 GWh to 16 GWh.

Ground preparations at the site of Northvolt Ett began on June 8 2018.

The name Northvolt Ett refers to the Swedish word for the number ‘one’, which is ‘ett’.

Northvolt Labs
Northvolt Labs is a manufacturing plant located outside of Västerås, Sweden. The 19.000 square meter facility contains a lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing line with an annual production capacity of 350 MWh, which will be used to support the development and industrialization of Northvolt battery cells. The facility is designed to test and refine battery cell manufacturing processes and produce demonstration sample cells for automobile manufacturers, industrial vehicle providers and other Northvolt customers.

Northvolt-Volkswagen Joint Venture Factory
In June 2019 it was announced that Northvolt and the Volkswagen Group would establish a 50/50 joint venture to develop a 16 GWh battery cell factory with an intended location in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, Germany. In September 2019, the two companies confirmed that the Salzgitter factory had an intended start of production "planned for the end of 2023/beginning of 2024" with an initial annual output of 16 GWh.

Northvolt Battery Systems Jeden
Northvolt Battery Systems Jeden is a battery module and energy storage system assembly facility located in Gdansk, Poland. The facility produced Northvolt’s first stationary energy storage system, Voltrack, in 2019. It is planned that lithium-ion cells, produced at Northvolt Ett, will be delivered to the facility for assembly into battery systems.