Northvolt

Northvolt is a Swedish lithium-ion battery manufacturer targeting the automotive industry and energy storage companies. Northvolt also uses a low-energy hydrometallurgical treatment to recover a variety of metals such as nickel, manganese, cobalt, copper, and even aluminum and plastics from spent battery cells. The process can isolate the metals and separate them from impurities with the use of an aqueous solution. The recovered metals are sourced to third parties as raw materials for their production processes. Northvolt’s customer partnerships include BMW Group, Volkswagen, and Epiroc.

Northvolt developed its first 100% fully recycled battery cell under the recycling program “Revolt’’. The recycled battery cell comes as part of Northvolt's efforts to establish a sustainable supply of batteries to reduce carbonization and to produce cells with 50% recycled material by 2030. 

As of March 2024, Northvolt operates a production plant, Northvolt Ett, and a recycling plant, "Revolt Ett," in Sweden, with Revolt Ett nearing completion of commissioning and having a capacity to recycle 125,000 tons of batteries annually. Additionally, the company is constructing HydroVolt, Europe’s largest battery recycling plant, as a joint venture with Hydro, with a facility in Norway capable of processing 12,000 tons of battery packs per year since May 2022.

Key customers and partnerships

In August 2023, Northvolt and European Metal Recycling (EMR) opened a 12,000 sq m EV battery recycling facility in Hamburg, capable of processing 10,000 tons of end-of-life battery packs annually. During the same period, the company expanded its partnership with ABB, a leader in electrification and automation, to provide electrification to power Revolt Ett, beginning in Q1 2023.

Funding and financials

In January 2024, Northvolt secured USD 5 billion to expand its Northvolt Ett battery factory in northern Sweden, to support the expansion of Northvolt Ett's cathode production and cell manufacturing, as well as the expansion of the adjacent recycling plant, Revolt Ett. In November 2023, Northvolt raised CAD 200 million (~USD 150 million) in convertible debt from CDPQ, to facilitate the Northvolt Six sustainable battery gigafactory project in Québec. Previously, in July 2023, Hydrovolt was awarded NOK 15.3 million (~USD 1.4 million) by Enova, a Norwegian government entity, to develop and test new technology that automates and manages Hydrovolt's EV battery-recycling facility in Fredrikstad.