Battery maker Northvolt to shift R&D from California to Sweden

Battery maker Northvolt will shut down and shift development of lithium-metal battery technology from California to its R&D hub in Vasteras, Sweden, the company announced.

The decision is part of a strategic review to refocus its expansion plans after Northvolt experienced a series of setbacks such as production delays and a customer cancelling a 2 billion euro ($2.22 billion) order.

“The transfer reflects a strategic move to consolidate the R&D and industrialisation of Northvolt’s cell product portfolio … into one location,” it said in a statement.

Carmakers and other manufacturers have for some time looked to source batteries away from China, with Northvolt considered by many as a pioneer in battery cell production in Europe.

Northvolt, which currently makes its batteries at a factory in northern Sweden, acquired California battery technology company Cuberg in 2021, a 25-staff operation that has since grown to roughly 200 and focused on developing lithium-metal battery technology.

The move will result in Cuberg being closed down, the battery maker confirmed to Reuters, and said the shift would yield cost reductions, but declined to disclose how much savings it expected to achieve.

All employees at Cuberg would be made redundant, Northvolt confirmed to Reuters, and said it encouraged the workers to apply for open positions in other arms of Northvolt.

In addition to the R&D move, the strategic review underway is expected to address expansion changes.

In July, Northvolt’s chief Executive Peter Carlsson told Swedish business daily Dagens Industri that it would need to focus on making sure its blueprint factory in Skelleftea, Sweden was working first and foremost.

This could result in a halt or delay of its other plans, which include expansions in Sweden as well as gigafactories in Germany and Canada.

“We have been a little too aggressive in our expansion plans and that is what we are now reviewing,” Carlsson told the paper in July.