Northvolt Produces First Lithium-Ion Cell At Ett Gigaplant

• by Martin Punter
• December 31, 2021
• 2 min read

Northvolt, a Swedish battery startup, announced Wednesday that it has assembled the first battery cell at its new gigaplant, marking a new chapter in European industrial history.

The Ett gigafactory in Sweden was initially announced in 2017 © Credit to Northvolt

In Europe, gigafactories — known to most as car battery factories — exist here, there and everywhere, including Sweden.

Northvolt is but one of the companies looking to cause an industrial revolution in an automotive fashion, with its Ett gigafactory, located in the northern part of the country.

Earlier this week the aspiring startup announced that it has assembled the first lithium-ion battery cell at its newly commissioned site — the first of many as we roll into the new year.

This news marks a major milestone for Northvolt, who have been working towards this since 2017 when the site was originally revealed to the world.

The factory in its current state employs over 500 people, representing 56 nationalities.

Peter Carlsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Northvolt, said:

“Today is a great milestone for Northvolt which the team has worked very hard to achieve. Of course, this first cell is only the beginning. Over the course of the coming years, we look forward to Northvolt Ett expanding its production capacity greatly to enable the European transition to clean energy.”

The cell itself is of a prismatic cell format, and came fresh off the assembly line on the 28th of December. Initial customer deliveries are expected to launch next year.

It was developed at Northvolt Labs, Northvolt’s industrialisation factory in Västerås, Sweden, which has been in production since early 2020.

Production capacity is expected to pick up in the coming years (up to 60 GWh), with Northvolt looking to fulfil contracts worth over $30 billion. Customers waiting in line include BMW, Fluence, Scania, Volkswagen, Volvo and Polestar.

There are gigafactories everywhere at this moment in time — a sign of the times as automakers and tech companies prepare for the EV wave. Do you live near one of these sites? Leave a comment below.

Martin Punter

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