The Swedish automaker plans to build its own battery plant as well, ahead of expected supply crunch.
Volvo- Volvo and Northvolt will open a research and development center in Gothenburg, Sweden, close to the automaker’s headquarters.
- The automaker plans to build a battery production facility in Europe starting in 2024, with an annual capacity of up to 50 gigawatt hours (GWh), which will produce batteries for half a million cars a year.
- Volvo plans for half of its sales to be battery-electric by 2025, ahead of offering a fully-electric lineup by 2030.
As part of its electrification strategy, Volvo will build a battery research and development center in Gothenburg, Sweden, along with partner Northvolt. Plans for the site, which will focus both on development and battery production, reflect the automaker’s intent to secure aspects of the battery production process, including cell development, as a part of transitioning into an all-EV automaker.
Volvo itself plans for half of its sales to be battery electric rather soon, by 2025, and EV-only by 2030.
The R&D center will oversee the development and sustainable production of battery packs not for the current generation of Volvo and Polestar vehicles, but for the next one. Volvo plans to build a new manufacturing facility for batteries in Europe, the location for which is being decided now. The Gothenburg center, on the other hand, will be based near Northvolt’s existing labs in Västerås, Sweden.
The automaker envisions an end-to-end system for batteries, developing and building them by itself, instead of relying on suppliers—a dynamic that a number of automakers are now trying to free themselves from for a number of reasons, including a less-than-predictable supply in the future. Positioning wholly-owned or joint venture-operated battery plants not too far from automaker assembly plants is something that’s being done by a handful of automakers at the moment, including Volkswagen.
“Our partnership with Northvolt secures the supply of high-quality, sustainably-produced batteries for the next generation of pure electric Volvos,” said Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive for Volvo Cars. “It will strengthen our core competencies and our position in the transformation to a fully electric car company.”
Volvo’s plans for its own battery plant, which will be located somewhere in Europe, envision an annual capacity of up to 50 gigawatt hours (GWh), which will supply enough batteries for half a million cars a year. Construction is expected to start in 2023, with large-scale battery production slated for 2026 with the plant slated to employ some 3000 workers, so there is still some time between now and when full-scale production will start.
“Volvo Cars is an excellent partner on the road towards building up a supply of battery cells that are made in Europe with a very low carbon footprint, and that are optimized through vehicle integration to get the best performance out of the next generation EVs,” said Peter Carlsson, chief executive for Northvolt.
When it comes to Volvo’s next EVs, the next major debut will be the appearance of a battery-electric version of the successor to the XC90, which will be unveiled and go on sale next year as a 2023 model, adding to the current XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge models. Other models, including at least one EV sedan, are on the way as well. A gas-electric hybrid version of the XC90’s successor is on the way as well in 2022, so the next large SUV won’t be EV-only, but overall Volvo expects to leave gas engines behind entirely by the end of the decade.
Keyword: Volvo and Northvolt Will Build Battery R&D Hub