A few hours ago, the European initiative to build a new battery factory, Northvolt, has published a video where we can see how work is progressing with some of the structures. They are already at a rather new level of construction.
According to the published announcement, the work carried out has allowed the structure of the space where the production of active cathode material to take place to be erected. Meanwhile the second building responsible for the manufacture of the electrodes is beginning to take shape.
Northvolt’s plans began the first works on the land occupied by the factory and located in the Swedish town of Skellefteå in 2019. It expects to start production at the end of this year with an initial output of 8 GWh, enough to produce about 130,000 packs of 60 kWh batteries. A figure that is estimated and will require an investment of between 1,250 and 1,500 million euros.
Superstructure completed for first upstream production hall at Northvolt Ett #battery #gigafactory, where cathode electrode active material production will take place. Second building (electrode production/cell assembly) taking shape. pic.twitter.com/B14rjJMAhY
— Northvolt (@northvolt) May 4, 2020
Analysts specializing in the energy sector say this is a high-risk investment project similar to initiatives to produce solar panels in Europe, which later failed because of the low cost of products arriving from China. But from Northvolt, it is indicated that in the public sector in Europe it is more open to economic support. This allows them to gain competitiveness against some Chinese products that are usually subsidized by the government.