Northvolt Announces Third Battery Gigafactory: Northvolt Drei

It will be located in Germany and produce a sufficient amount of batteries for one million electric vehicles.

By: Mark Kane

Mar 17, 2022 at 10:18am ET

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Northvolt announced a plan for its third battery gigafactory - Northvolt Drei, which will be established in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany.

According to the company, the intention is to start production in 2025 and potentially reach 60 GWh of lithium-ion battery cells annually, which would be sufficient for one million electric vehicles (assuming 60 kWh per vehicle).

Northvolt notes that the location is perfect to supply batteries for customers in continental Europe (compared to the plants in Sweden). Also, the area has a surplus of electricity generated from renewable sources.

"...a central intention of Northvolt Drei is to deliver high-performance lithium-ion batteries, produced with the lowest environmental footprint in continental Europe."

Besides the battery production, Northvolt would like to build also an on-site battery recycling plant.

Peter Carlsson, Co-Founder and CEO of Northvolt, comments:

“We’re excited to announce Northvolt Drei – a project which fits well into a promising future cluster of clean technology ventures emerging in northern Germany and advances the wider European transition towards a sustainable society within which Germany plays a crucial role.”

Northvolt Drei in brief:

Location: Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany
Production: start in 2025
Capacity: potential of up to 60 GWh/year
Jobs: "some 3,000"

Northvolt Drei is actually the second attempt to build a battery plant in Germany, as the previous Northvolt project - Northvolt Zwei joint venture with Volkswagen, in Salzgitter, was acquired by Volkswagen.

Together with the two battery gigafactory projects in Sweden, Northvolt’s pipeline of battery manufacturing capacity under development increased to over 170 GWh:

Sweden: Northvolt Ett gigafactory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden (60 GWh/year)
Sweden: joint venture with Volvo Cars in Gothenburg, Sweden (50 GWh/year)
Germany: Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany (60 GWh/year)
Total: 170 GWh/year

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Earlier this month the company announced a new manufacturing plant for cathode active materials in Sweden, which is expected to produce battery cells as well, but details were not provided.

With several projects launched simultaneously, Northvolt might become one of the largest players in the European EV battery market.