Volvo and Northvolt to open R&D centre as part of $3.3 billion investment plan

Volvo Cars announced that it is going to partner with Northvolt to open a joint research and development centre in Sweden as a part of an investment worth $3.3 billion. Earlier this year, both the companies shared their plans for a collaboration to develop batteries for electric cars. This also includes the establishment of a gigafactory for production and a research and development centre.

Volvo stated that both the companies have signed a binding agreement for the joint venture. Chief executive officer of Volvo Cars Hakan Samuelsson informed that the automaker's partnership with Northvolt will help it to secure the supply of high-quality, sustainably-produced batteries for the next generation of pure electric Volvos. The company's majority stake that is owned by China's Geely Holding aims to sell around 50 per cent pure electric cars by 2025 and only EVs by 2030.

The company also conveyed that it is expected to confirm a location in Europe for its new gigagactory with a potential annual capacity of up to 50-gigawatt hours (GWh), in early 2022. The research and development centre that is located in Gothenburg will also start its operations next year.

Northvolt whose biggest shareholder is Volkswagen informed a couple of months ago that it has planned to invest $750 million to expand its laboratory facility in Sweden. The company also raised $2.75 billion in equity this year to expand capacity at its factory in northern Sweden, which is due to start production this month. With an aim to take on Asian companies such as CATL and LG Chem, Northvolt wants to secure a 20 per cent market share in Europe by 2030. It has secured contracts worth over $27 billion from companies such as BMW, Scania, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars and Polestar.

(with inputs from Reuters)