Northvolt invests $750 million to establish R&D campus

Northvolt says that it is expanding Northvolt Labs in Västerås, Sweden, into a fully-integrated ecosystem for catalysing technological advances in the emerging European battery industry. The new campus will be built out from Northvolt Labs – the existing cell industrialisation plant with adjacent testing facilities and the Revolt pilot recycling plant, which will feed recycled raw materials directly into on-site production. In order to provide customers with access to a toolbox spanning the full-spectrum of value-chain activities relating to lithium-ion battery design, development and lifecycle – from active materials and cell design, through to battery systems and recycling; Northvolt is investing USD 750 million. “There is today an irreversible momentum surrounding the switch to battery electric solutions. Northvolt Labs is being expanded in order to capitalize on this – to drive the transition at even greater speed towards safe, sustainable battery solutions. By establishing a campus where industrial actors can engage, surrounded by all necessary facilities, it is our belief that we can create the necessary foundation for Europe to emerge as the leading region for a technology that is at the heart of the race to decarbonize,” says Peter Carlsson, Co-Founder and CEO of Northvolt in a press release. The first new facility is already under construction – an R&D center which will enable development of novel battery cell materials and products. In parallel, a new 15,000 square meter office is under development to support an increase in headcount from 400 persons today to at least 1,000 persons who will work at Northvolt Labs. Additionally, a new customer center will be established to serve as a space for partners, start-ups, scale-ups and academia, to meet, collaborate and collectively drive forward European industry players engaged in battery technologies and electrification.