Swedish battery group Northvolt AB yesterday said it had begun construction of a “gigafactory” in Sweden, the first of its kind to be undertaken by a European company on the continent.
Intended to compete with the US’ Tesla Inc and Asian producers of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, the factory in Skelleftea in northern Sweden assembled its first electric cell “last night,” Northvolt said in a statement.
Once at full capacity, the site is expected to produce enough batteries to power 1 million electric vehicles annually, with an annual production capacity of 60 gigawatt-hours (GWh), the firm said.
“Today is a
Swedish automaker Volvo Cars Group AB on Monday said that it plans to raise at least 25 billion kroner (US$2.9 billion) by selling shares to fund its electric vehicle (EV) transformation strategy.
Volvo Cars and its parent company, Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co (浙江吉利控股), have applied to hold an initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ Stockholm, with shares expected to start trading before the end of the year.
The money raised from the IPO is to help fund Volvo’s lofty ambitions.
The company aims to nearly double sales by 2025 to 1.2 million vehicles, half of which are to be