Northvolt: another failed factory
09/06/2025
Northvolt, the Swedish startup that dreamed of becoming the European battery giant, risks closing its doors as early as June 2025.
After years of promises and public and private investments, the situation is now dramatic: the only plant still operating, the one in Skelleftea, will be forced to stop production if a buyer capable of repaying a monstrous debt of 10 billion euros does not arrive.
Production currently concerns cells destined for Scania electric trucks, but activities are close to a complete stop.
The bankruptcy trustee appointed in March by the Swedish court is charged with selling the company's assets and activities, but so far no one has formalized a concrete offer.
On May 22, in a meeting with the 900 employees of the Swedish site, the operations director Matthias Arleth illustrated the gravity of the situation: a communication defined as "necessary" but which sounds like the last call.
The biggest risk is not just for the company. The city of Skelleftea, which had invested around 10 million euros to develop an industrial ecosystem around Northvolt, is now facing the possibility of a collapse of the entire supply chain, with very serious economic consequences at the local level.
A lifeline could come from CATL. The Asian battery giant is said to be in talks with some creditors to explore the possibility of an intervention. Robin Zeng, founder and president of CATL, has publicly admitted his interest, but has also specified that it is a complex operation.
Northvolt is paying the consequences of a double blow: on the one hand, the decline in demand for electric vehicles, which has made the race for batteries less strategic; on the other, production delays and defaults that have undermined the company's credibility with customers and partners.
The Northvolt project, presented for years as the European response to Asian supremacy in the battery sector, therefore risks foundering just when the energy transition enters its crucial phase.
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