Truck Maker Scania Plans Complete Shift to Northvolt
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Volkswagen AG鈥檚 truck manufacturing brand Scania plans to equip all its future electric trucks with Northvolt batteries, in a vote of confidence for the cash-strapped Swedish battery maker as it works to seal up a rescue package.
鈥淲e are now shifting over. For the future, all of our currently sold battery electric vehicles will come with Northvolt cells,鈥 Scania CEO Christian Levin said in a call with reporters on Oct. 28. The volumes Northvolt is currently supplying to Scania are 鈥渟atisfactory to us given the total market right now,鈥 Levin said.
Scania鈥檚 decision to rely solely on Northvolt as its primary cell supplier underscores the importance of the Swedish firm to the truck maker and its parent Volkswagen AG. Northvolt is in the final stages of locking up an emergency funding package of about $300 million in debt and equity as it works on a longer term solution to shore up its finances and stabilize production.
鈥淲e are on our way out of our production hell. I think we have the toughest period behind us,鈥 Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson said in an interview published over the weekend by newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
Scania delivers strong financial results for the third consecutive quarter this year 鈥 Scania Group (@ScaniaGroup)
The CEO declined to say when the production rate would reach full capacity at Northvolt鈥檚 main plant in Skelleftea, near the Arctic Circle. The facility is currently operating at between 5% to 10% percent of total capacity.
Volkswagen, Northvolt鈥檚 biggest shareholder, has so far said that it will support Northvolt in scaling up battery-cell production, without offering much detail. Levin declined to provide details about any financing, but indicated that Scania will continue to support Northvolt.
鈥淚t lies in our interest to make sure they can continue to deliver cells to us,鈥 Levin said. 鈥淪o we can continue to deliver vehicles to our customers where we have a customer contract.鈥
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