Northvolt files for bankruptcy in Sweden

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Northvolt Batteries made a request for bankruptcy in Sweden, which led to the fall of the company, which was the best hope in Europe in the competition in an industry dominated by China.

The Swedish company, which includes supporters including Volkswagen, Joldman Sachs and Black Rock, said on Wednesday that he was unable to secure funding to continue and that the guardian appointed by the court would sell its assets.

This is a very difficult day for everyone in Northfolt. Tom Johnston, the interim president of Northfolt, said that we have begun to build something leading – to make a real battery change, EV and the wider European industry and accelerate the transition to a green and sustainable future.

It is an end to a company that attracted about $ 15 billion in investment in companies and the government to develop technology for electric cars, as Europe plays a knee on Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea.

Northfolt I applied for the bankruptcy of Chapter 11 in the United States in November, but he spent the last months in talks with about 100 potential investors about setting a billion dollars to secure the future of the battery factory located in Skellefteå, just below the Arctic Circle.

Financial Times was previously found The group – led by two former Tesla managers – tried to open up to six factories at the same time. Ten current and previous employees said that there are problems in mismanagement, safety standards, and excessive dependence on Chinese machines.

After its founding in 2016, Northfolt soon became the best starting in Europe, with great attention from senior government officials in Germany, Canada, Sweden and Brussels.

However, the Swedish government, unlike those in Canada and Germany, refused to provide major subsidies for the group and last year, the investors retreated from a financing round at the last minute. The planned Canadian and German factories are not part of bankruptcy.

Johnston said that although production increased in its factory in recent months and cost cuts, he was unable to secure financing. He added: “We hope that the awareness that we made with potential investors will accelerate during the process of Chapter 11 to determine the necessary financing to allow the continued trading under the Swedish bankruptcy process.”

SCANIA, Swedish truck maker, the main customer of Northvolt, has provided the company with a new capital in November and I bought the work of industrial battery systems. She said she recently got supplies from other batteries.

Chinese battery makers are already a strong presence in Europe. Catl, the world’s largest manufacturing company, builds plants in Germany, Hungary and Spain, the latter is a joint venture with Stelantis. VW partnership with another Chinese company Gotion.

There are other European companies that develop EV batteries, but they are at an early stage of Northvolt. There were also other failures, including the Norwer Freyr group that abandoned the battery plans to become a solar power company instead.