Swedish lithium-ion start-up Northvolt has announced plans for a new battery production facility in Gdansk, Poland.
The facility will produce full battery systems— containing battery cells, an electronic control system, and often a cooling and heating system— using cells manufactured at Northvolt’s factory in Sweden, where production is scheduled to start toward the end of 2020.
Northvolt said the new plant, which will include an R&D centre, would be operated in partnership with California-based precision semiconductor manufacturer South Bay Solutions.
Production is expected to start in 2019, with an initial annual manufacturing capacity of 10,000 modules.
Poland was chosen for the project because of its “proximity to a strong supply chain eco system, labour market and end-customers in continental Europe”, Northvolt said.
Northvolt CEO and founder Peter Carlsson said: “We have seen a rapid increase in interest for complete battery solutions from several of our key customer segments during the past year. With this facility we will be able to meet that demand.”
Last week, BEST Battery Briefing reported that Northvolt had entered a joint-technology consortium with BMW and Umicore, with the intention of establishing a closed life cycle loop for lithium-ion batteries.