Volkswagen has partnered with Swedish battery manufacturing startup Northvolt, and the two parties will work to create a new consortium to advance the development of European electric vehicle batteries. Northvolt is a battery maker founded by former Tesla executives.
It is worth mentioning that Northvolt had already intersected with Volkswagen Group before. Volkswagen has invested in Northvolt through its truck business, Scania.
But now Northvolt and Volkswagen Group have directly formed a partnership, and the two parties will create a new "European Battery Union Consortium".
The two sides expressed this cooperation, "Partners from the research and industrial fields of the seven EU member states will cooperate in the European Battery Union. Comprehensive and comprehensive research cooperation will cover everything from raw material production to battery cell technology and production processes. Field and form a recyclable closed loop. Our research activities will also focus on the development and engineering of sustainable, environmentally friendly and fairly competitive battery cell plants in the EU. "
The Volkswagen Group emphasized that their investment in the European Battery Union project "may be funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy."
The German government has previously arranged 1 billion euros (about $ 1.14 billion) to support consortia engaged in battery cell production. In addition, the German government plans to fund research facilities for the development of next-generation solid-state batteries.
The German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy revealed earlier this month that more than 30 companies have applied for funding from the government's funding scheme for the development and production of battery cells.
Northvolt is currently building a super factory in Sweden to produce battery cells.
The plant is expected to have a capacity of only 125MWh per year at the beginning of production, and Northvolt intends to expand the plant further.
Northvolt's main plant is expected to start production in 2020, with an annual capacity target set at 8GWh, and once the entire plant is put into production (expected in 2023), its annual capacity may reach 32GWh.
Northvolt intends to serve the electrification of vehicles in the automotive industry, in addition to hoping to get involved in energy storage applications.
After finalizing a $ 68 million loan from InnovFin, Northvolt launched a construction plan for the super factory. InnovFin is an energy demonstration project under the EU Innovator Financial Funding Project.
It is worth mentioning that Northvolt also announced plans to build a new battery module plant in Europe.