Northvolt assembles first lithium-ion battery cell at Swedish gigafactory

Skellefteå, Sweden: Last night, the commissioning of the Northvolt Ett gigafactory in northern Sweden led to the assembly of the first battery cell.

Marking a new chapter in European industrial history, the cell is the first to have been fully designed, developed and assembled at a gigafactory by a homegrown European battery company.

The first cell of Northvolt Ett represents a milestone which Northvolt has been working towards since the gigafactory was announced in 2017. The cell is of a prismatic cell format and came off the cell assembly line on the 28th of December. Commissioning and upscaling of the factory will continue through into 2022, when the first commercial customer deliveries will be made.

Peter Carlsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Northvolt, said: “Today is a great milestone for Northvolt which the team has worked very hard to achieve. Of course, this first cell is only the beginning. Over the course of the coming years, we look forward to Northvolt Ett expanding its production capacity greatly to enable the European transition to clean energy.”

The battery cell was developed at Northvolt Labs, Northvolt’s industrialization factory in Västerås, Sweden, which has been in production since early 2020. In the coming years, production capacity at Northvolt Ett will increase towards 60 GWh per year to fulfill over $30 billion worth of contracts Northvolt has secured from key customers, including BMW, Fluence, Scania, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars and Polestar. To these customers in the automotive, industrial and energy storage sectors, Northvolt Ett will deliver cells of varying formats with commercial deliveries beginning in 2022.

Presently, Northvolt Ett in Skellefteå employs over 500 people, representing 56 nationalities.