Battery maker Northvolt jointly announced a heavy duty lithium-ion battery with truck maker Scania capable of powering a truck for 1.5 million kilometres, its expected lifetime.
Northvolt and Scania started to jointly develop the battery cell in 2017. Northvolt is making the 3.6V 157Ah prismatic cell at its Ett gigafactory in northern Sweden.
Later this year, Scania will inaugurate a new battery factory in Södertälje, Sweden. It will assemble battery cells into battery packs for the start of production of heavy-duty electric trucks.
Scania’s CEO Christian Levin said: “Today marks a milestone on the path towards a sustainable transport system. The future of heavy transport is electric…As the development of the battery cell started, we targeted high performance, low operating costs and long lifetime.
“We decided on a requirement for the cell to enable a 1.5 million-kilometre-long lifetime for a heavy-duty Scania vehicle. The tests show that this requirement can not only be met, but also exceeded.”
Northvolt said it has secured more than $55 billion in contracts from key customers, including BMW, Fluence, Scania, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars and Polestar.
Its plans include establishing recycling capabilities so half of all its raw material requirements can be sourced from recycled batteries by 2030.
