Northvolt lays off 1,600 employees

Northvolt is now putting the brakes on and stopping all development and expansion plans. In addition to 1,000 employees in Skellefteå, 400 employees at the development unit in Västerås and 200 in the administration in Stockholm are affected. This is a quarter of Northvolt's staff in Sweden. It is not clear how employees of temporary work agencies and subcontractors will be affected.

“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. We now need to focus all energy and investments into our core business. Success in the ramp-up of production at Northvolt Ett is critical for delivering to our customers and enabling sustainable business operations. Recent production records at Northvolt Ett show that we are on the right path, but the decisions we’re taking today, however tough, are required for Northvolt’s future," says Peter Carlsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Northvolt.

Northvolt recently announced that it was closing part of the factory in Skellefteå, with around 300 employees, to import battery cells from China instead. Now there will be brakes across the board. The development of the Northvolt Ett project in Skellefteå will be stopped. In Västerås, programs and expansion plans at Northvolt Labs will be slowed down and in Stockholm, operations at the head office will be reduced.

The focus will now be on ramping up production in the first phase of Northvolt Ett in Skellefteå, prioritizing existing customers waiting for batteries from the delayed production. Northvolt says it has increased production recently. The goal is to produce batteries with a total capacity of 16 GWh in the first phase.

Still 2.800 people work at the factory in Skellefteå.

Lennart Håkansson

editor@northswedenbusiness.com