The Swedish startup Northvolt has admitted that a vital component of its batteries is imported amid claims that the company, which claims to run Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory, depends on Chinese suppliers.
It comes as a documentary programme to be shown in Sweden on Wednesday by the national broadcaster SVT, exposes the company’s failure to build a truly homegrown battery after its attempts to produce its own cathode active material at its Northvolt Ett factory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, were unsuccessful.
Reporters from the current affairs show Uppdrag Granskning spoke to two employees who said the company had instead had to import the vital component from China.
Northvolt was founded in 2016 with the aim of creating “the world’s greenest battery” and was hailed as Europe’s big hope against dependence on oil and imported batteries from China. Despite admitting that it outsources key materials, it continues to describe Northvolt Ett as “Europe’s first homegrown response to [the] opportunities and needs of an electric world”.
Earlier this month, after being contacted by SVT, Northvolt published a statement on its website in which it said “to date, Northvolt has sourced cathode active material for its cell production from external parties” while it worked to establish its own in-house cathode active material production, listing China, Japan, South Korea and Sweden as approved sources.
In October, it added, that it “suspended activities” in that part of the factory, called Upstream 1, as part of the company’s strategic review.
Northvolt claims that publication of this information “was not related to their upcoming programme”.
The documentary comes after months of turbulence at the company which, amid severe production delays, in November filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. The next day co-founder Peter Carlsson resigned as chief executive.
Last week, Northvolt agreed to sell its industrial battery unit, based in Gdańsk, Poland, to Scania, the Swedish truck maker, for an undisclosed sum.
Northvolt said it had never promised or aimed to be an “all-Swedish battery” but that it had planned to start its own cathode production before it was put on “pause” in the autumn.
A Northvolt spokesperson said: “To our knowledge, the programme doesn’t present any new information of significance. It’s not correct that our comment to Uppdrag Granskning was the first time we communicated to all cathode material being imported.
“We communicated our intention to pause the production of cathode material in a press release on 9 September last year, and the sourcing of cathode material has been described in various contexts, for example our annual reports 2021-2023.
“We’re proud to conclude that also with external cathode materials, our products have a remarkable sustainability performance and a lower CO2 footprint than most competitors.”
Emma Nehrenheim, president of Northvolt battery systems and materials, said they had originally planned to produce their own cathode material, but that they were forced to find other solutions.
She told SVT: “Due to our operational and financial situation, we unfortunately had to make short- and medium-term reprioritisations. For our integrated model and the sustainability goals, this has consequences, for example we will have to push forward certain goals for recycled material and carbon footprint.
“It is not something we desire, and in the long term we will – and of course I want to personally – work to find our way back to the strategy we once chose, either by ourselves or in partnership with others.
“In the meantime, we are working very actively to drive improvements in the existing value chain for cathode materials, for example by driving increased transparency, share of renewable energy and recycled material.”
