Northvolt selects site for new battery plant

Battery cells produced by Northvolt Photo: Northvolt

Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt has reported that it has selected Heide, Germany, as the location for its new 60 GW battery production plant.

This will be the company’s third production site and the first to be located outside Sweden.

“In Heide, we really found a spot where we could combine all [our] requirements: attracting talent and feeling the support for our aspiration of building the world’s greenest batteries,” said Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson.

He continued: “With the energy mix in Schleswig-Holstein, with the offshore wind coming in, but also with the linkage to Denmark and Norway in the energy feed, we saw that this is probably the best spot for us in Germany to build this set up.”

Germany Trade & Invest assisted in the site selection. Speaking about the announcement, GTAI automotive expert Stefan di Bitonto, said: “Northvolt’s planned gigafactory in Heide is a further indication that the automotive industry in Germany is expanding beyond its traditional strongholds, as mobility is rethought during Germany’s transition to clean energy.”

According to Handelsblatt, a business newspaper in Gemany, the country now leads Europe’s battery production tables with 485 GW hours of actual and planned output.

Other companies either manufacturing or proposing sites in Germany include CATL, SVOLT, PSA Group and Tesla.