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Northvolt set for €400m Swedish gigafactory loan

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is set to approve a €400 million (US$450m) loan to help start-up Northvolt build a 16GWh capacity lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing plant in Sweden.

The loan to design, build and start operations at the gigafactory, which Northvolt estimates will cost a total of around €1.5 billion, is likely to get the green light when the EIB board meets on 15 May.

European Investment Bank

battery cells

eu

Northvolt

Sweden

lithium-ion batteries

Maos Sefcovic

Battery Alliance

Volvo launches second-life ‘energy warehouse’

Volvo has inaugurated an energy storage project made up of connected lithium-ion batteries previously used in the Swedish automotive manufacturer’s electric buses.

The “energy warehouse” consists of 14 lithium-ion e-bus batteries, which are installed in a battery chamber and connected to create a 200kWh storage pack, which has been fitted to a Riksbyggen apartment complex in Gothenburg that “aims to be Sweden’s most innovative and sustainable housing project”.

The storage pack will be implemented to cut the apartment complex’s power consumption peaks by storing energy bought from the grid at periods of low demand, and to store or sell surplus solar energy generated at the property.

volvo

lithium-ion batteries

second life batteries

Johanneberg Science Park

Sweden

Northvolt plans Poland battery plant to target European market

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.

Siemens to partner with Northvolt for ‘Green LIB’ supplies

Siemens is to partner Swedish lithium-ion start-up Northvolt in developing “next generation Green lithium-ion batteries”.

Siemens is investing EUR10 million ($11.6m) in the partnership— through which it will become the latest international firm to work with Northvolt— whose planned lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility is being financed by the European Investment Bank.

Northvolt

siemens

lithium-ion batteries

Sweden

digital systems technology

Peter Carlsson

Jan Mrosik

Sweden to be nexus of EU-Asia battery future?

Chinese private capital firm GSR Capital is ramping up its ambitions to become a key player in European EV battery production with plans for a manufacturing plant in Sweden.

GSR is to build the battery facility at Trollhättan, 75km north of Gothenburg, on land adjacent to Swedish electric vehicle producer NEVS— in which GSR will also invest $500 million.

Alelion building Sweden’s “first large-scale Li battery plant”

Swedish battery manufacturer Alelion Energy Systems has announced plans to build “Sweden’s first large-scale” lithium batteries plant near Gothenburg.

The facility, which is expected to be complete this year, will produce batteries for industrial and other applications near the Volvo manufacturing plant in Torslanda. It will have an initial production capacity of 500MWh per year.

Sweden

lithium-ion batteries

gigafactory

Alelion Energy Systems

Swedish cities to share Northvolt’s Li-on Giga operation

Swedish lithium-ion battery maker Northvolt AB is to partner with two of the countries’ cities to set up what it says will be “Europe’s largest and most cutting-edge lithium-ion battery manufacturing” operation.

Northvolt said the ‘Gigafactory business’ will be split between the cities of Skellefteå in the north— which will host the production factory— and the central Sweden city of Västerås— where key research and development operations will be located.

Vattenfall and BMW Group 33kWh lithium-ion supply contract

Swedish utility firm Vattenfall has signed a deal with the BMW Group for the delivery of up to 1,000 lithium-ion batteries for use in its energy storage projects.

The 33kWh batteries, each equipped with a BMW-owned battery management system, will come from the German OEM’s plant in Dingolfing.