Image: © guteksk7/Stock.adobe.com
The layoffs will affect employees spread across Sweden with the worst hit Skellefteå site to lose 1,000 employees.
Battery manufacturer Northvolt is laying off 25pc of its Swedish employees, and will focus its energy and investments into its core business, the company said in a statement yesterday (23 September).
The Swedish battery manufacturing company, founded by former Tesla executives, specialises in lithium-ion technology for electric vehicles (EV), with some big name customers including BMW, Volvo Cars and the Volkswagen Group.
Along with the layoffs, the company announced further “rescoping” measures that include suspending its expansion project in Northvolt Ett in Skellefteå, Europe’s first homegrown battery gigafactory, which was intended to provide an additional 30 gigawatt hours of annual cell manufacturing capacity. Programmes and expansion at its Västerås labs will also be slowed.
The measures are to “ensure that [the company’s] resources are focused on accelerating production in large-scale cell manufacturing at Northvolt Ett,” the statement reads. Early this year, the company bagged a $5bn green loan to expand the site in northern Sweden.
The layoffs, amounting to a total of 1,600 employees, will be spread across Sweden – 1,000 in Skellefteå, 400 in Västerås and 200 in Stolkholm, home to the company’s head office.
“While overall momentum for electrification remains strong, we need to make sure that we take the right actions at the right time in response to headwinds in the automotive market, and wider industrial climate,” said Peter Carlsson, Northvolt CEO and co-founder.
The growth in demand for EVs has slowed after soaring for years, a recent EY report showed.
Northvolt’s employees faced uncertainty for weeks as these rescoping measures were initially announced earlier this month. The company said that it has made efforts to mitigate the impacts “to the greatest extent possible”, and says it will assist laid-off employees with new employment, relocation and documentation.
“The decisions,” Carlsson said, “are, however, necessary to adjust for current realities and enable the long-term success of Northvolt.”
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