Northvolt partner Scania likely to bring second cell supplier on board
As is well known, Northvolt has been going through bankruptcy protection proceedings under US law since November 2024. Scania is one of the closest partners of the Swedish battery cell manufacturer and is trying to support the company. However, just in case, the Traton subsidiary has now also secured cells from another supplier. This was reported by Reuters, citing company statements. However, Scania did not specify which supplier it was.
The news was accompanied by a warning from Scania and parent company Traton that they would miss their 2025 target of a 20 per cent reduction in Scope 3 emissions. In this context, Scania CEO Christian Levin said: ‘We have accelerated our supplier strategy and secured future deliveries of battery cells.’ Until now, Northvolt was considered the truck manufacturer’s sole cell supplier.
However, last year Levin mentioned that his company was in talks with other battery cell manufacturers about possible deliveries for its future electric fleet.
Scania reported the delivery of 77 zero-emission vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2024, and 266 units for the whole of 2024. However, Levin emphasised that his company is not moving away from Northvolt: “We currently, since quite some time, receive the cells we order, which is really good,” Scania CEO told Bloomberg. Several Scania employees have been sent to the Northvolt site in Skelleftea to support the start of production there. He added that the companies are “basically talking every day.” Scania is working closely with Northvolt “because we’re trying to make sure that they can continue to be our main supplier as was planned.”
Meanwhile, the annual report presented on Monday shows that parent company Traton wrote off the market value of its stake in Northvolt to zero last year. So did IMCO, Volkswagen and Goldman Sachs. The investors are thus indirectly expressing their assessment that the battery manufacturer is rapidly losing value.
Northvolt now focuses only on cell production in its own battery factory, Northvolt Ett, in Skelleftea in northern Sweden. The company has parted with other projects since the strategic review that began in the summer. Since then, for example, the production of cathode active material (CAM) at the headquarters in Skelleftea has also been paused.
Northvolt recently announced on LinkedIn that it has now delivered the millionth cell to its customers.
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