Volvo delays construction of battery plant in Sweden
Construction for Volvo’s new battery production plant in Sweden was expected to start in 2025. But the start date has now been pushed back by between 12 and 24 months, the WSJ report said.
Truck-maker Volvo is delaying the construction of a new battery production plant in Sweden amid a fall in demand for EV batteries, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Swedish company holds nearly 57% market share in this segment in Europe, but global orders for its electric heavy-duty trucks are falling.
Volvo has indicated that further adoption may be subject to expanding infrastructure such as charging, along with incentive programs.
Construction at Volvo’s new battery production plant in Sweden was expected to start in 2025. But the start date has now been pushed back by between 12 and 24 months, the report said.
“We are looking over the timing for this construction in order to safeguard that we ramp up own production of cells in sync with the pace of increasing demand,” a company spokesperson said. “If and how this will affect the overall project remains to be seen.”
Swedish battery maker Northvolt is also scaling back operations as the appetite for EVs weakens. Automaker BMW recently canceled a USD 2.22 billion battery order it had with Northvolt.
Two Chinese companies, CATL and BYD, reportedly have more than 50% of the global EV battery market between them.