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The
Northvolt 3 battery cell factory in Heide, in the northern state
of Schleswig-Holstein, is expected to produce climate-friendly
battery cells for 1 million cars a year once completed later
this decade, the company has said.
"We're seeing today some clouds on the sky, we are seeing a
little bit of a decline of the electric vehicle trend overall,
but I think that when you take a step back and look at the
transition, the megatrend and the underlying change is there,"
Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson said at a groundbreaking ceremony
for the new plant.
"The fact that we are going to go from (internal) combustion to
electric is without a doubt going to happen," he added.
High energy prices, soaring interest rates and a rise in the
cost of raw materials had created "bumps in the road", but the
EV industry will continue to grow, the CEO said.
"We're now seeing even stronger products coming out in the
market, that will also be produced here at Northvolt 3, that
will drive even stronger adoption of electric vehicles,"
Carlsson said.
Attending the event, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed the
factory as a sign of his country's industrial appeal.
"The production of good cars will remain the backbone of our
industry beyond the combustion engine. For this we need battery
cells made in Germany, made in Europe," Scholz said.
"This is how we secure our technological sovereignty. This is
how we secure value creation in Europe," he added.
Cell assembly in the new factory is planned for 2026 and its
final expansion is scheduled to be completed in 2029. The
investment amounts to 4.5 billion euros ($4.86 billion) and
around 3,000 new jobs will be created, Northvolt said.
The EU Commission in January approved state aid for the project.
In total, there are subsidies amounting to 902 million euros -
700 million of which are grants and 202 million are guarantees.
($1 = 0.9243 euros)
(Reporting by Christian Kraemer in Berlin, Emma-Victoria Farr in
Frankfurt and Terje Solsvik in Oslo, editing by Louise
Rasmussen, Kirsten Donovan)
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