Volvo has confirmed its new battery manufacturing plant in Torslanda, Sweden, could boast an annual production capacity that could supply half a million electric vehicles per year.
Sited in Torslanda, a western district of Gothenburg, Sweden, construction of the new plant will begin in 2023 with operations set to start in 2025, a project that could create up to 3,000 jobs.
The batteries produced therein will be used exclusively by Volvo and premium sub-brand Polestar, with development of the “tailor-made” batteries focusing on extended range and quick charging times. The planned annual production capacity of up to 50 gigawatt hours would be enough to supply approximately 500,000 Volvo and Polestar vehicles per year.
Volvo Cars and Northvolt accelerate shift to electrification with new, 3,000-job battery plant in Gothenburg, Sweden
The announcement comes just two months after the Swedish carmaker confirmed that a 30 billion SEK (just under $4.2 billion) partnership had been signed with energy cell specialist, Northvolt. The new Gothenburg facility is a leading project of this collaboration to ensure breakthroughs in research and development can be put into production quickly, and will thus prove a cornerstone of Volvo’s plans to produce and sell only fully electric cars by 2030.
“Our battery cell partnership with Northvolt is key to our strategic ambitions in electrification,” Volvo chief executive Håkan Samuelsson explained in an official statement. “We are committed to becoming a leader in the premium electric car segment and selling only pure electric vehicles by 2030.”
Read more: 2022 Polestar 2 Review
Peter Carlsson, Co-Founder and CEO of Northvolt continues: “Establishing this gigafactory in Gothenburg is a decisive move, both to continue to transform one of the most dynamic automotive regions in the world, and to become the leading global supplier of sustainable batteries.
Volvo theorizes that the new Torslanda battery plant, aptly set to be powered by fossil-free energy, “will represent one of the largest cell production units in Europe”, the most notable of which includes the Renault Group’s ‘Electricity’ in Normandy, France. The location of this “significant player” will also prove crucial: as well as offering a direct route into Volvo’s largest car plant, also in Gothenburg, the new battery manufacturing plant will be in close proximity to both Volvo and Northvolt’s R&D hubs.
