Northvolt, Scania in €10m battery development deal
Scania is investing €10m in the partnership to enhance further development and support the establishment of Northvolt Lab’s demonstration line and research facility in in Västerås, Sweden. The two companies will establish a joint team to develop and commercialise production of battery cells optimised specifically for commercial vehicles. Scania has also agreed to buy battery cells from Northvolt.
For heavy trucks and buses, continued development of both charging infrastructure as well as more robust, cost efficient and sustainable battery cells is needed for a widespread market breakthrough in commercially viable electrification. Different transport assignments will require different electric powertrains so battery and cell technologies must therefore be developed to support a range of needs.
“We aim to make it easy for customers to select sustainable transport solutions. Electrification will play a key part in the shift to a fossil free transport system. However, the current battery cell technology must be developed to fulfil the business requirements of heavy bus and truck customers. With Northvolt as a partner, we believe that we can make major strides forward,” said Henrik Henriksson, President and CEO of Scania, part of Volkswagen.”With Scania’s product and business expertise combined with our cutting-edge manufacturing process, we are convinced that we can produce cost efficient and green battery cells of the highest quality for the heavy commercial vehicle market,” said Peter Carlsson, Co-Founder and CEO of Northvolt.
Scania sees the supply of cost-effective green energy in Sweden as a key advantage for large-scale sustainable battery production. Northvolt is building a battery ‘gigafactory’ in the city of Skellefteå in the north of Sweden to produce batteries that can be easily recycled with an annual output of 32 GWh, making it the largest in Europe.
The deal is one of several strategic initiatives for Scania in developing a sustainable transport system.
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