Volvo Cars and Swedish battery maker Northvolt are opening a joint Research and Development (R&D) centre in Gothenburg as part of a SEK 30 billion investment in battery development and manufacturing. The R&D centre, which will become operational in 2022, will create a few hundred jobs in Gothenburg.
Volvo’s Håkan Samuelsson and Northvolt’s Peter Carlsson hold a prismatic cell.
Following the partnership announced by both companies earlier this year, Volvo Cars and Northvolt signed a binding agreement recently to create a 50:50 joint venture to develop and produce batteries for the next generation pure electric Volvo cars. The establishment of the new R&D centre in Gothenburg will be followed by the construction of a new gigafactory in Europe with a potential capacity of up to 50 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year. Production is expected to start in 2026. The upcoming gigafactory is planned to be powered by 100% clean energy, and is expected to employ around 3,000 people. However, the location of the new plant is yet to be decided.
In the meantime, Volvo plans to source 15 GWh of battery cells per year from the existing Northvolt Ett battery plant in Skellefteå, Sweden, starting in 2024.
The joint press release added that the first car to feature battery cells developed through the joint venture will be an all-electric successor to Volvo’ best-selling XC60.
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