Sweden's Northvolt files for bankruptcy, in blow to Europe's EV ambitions

by Element_on 11/22/2024, 3:23 AMwith 53 comments

by em500on 11/22/2024, 6:34 AM

There's an interesting AMA on Reddit from a Northvolt engineer: https://old.reddit.com/r/sweden/comments/1g1xkmx/jag_%C3%A4r... (Google translate works well on the old.reddit.com site).

According to this (and other) reports, they never got their high volume production yields anywhere near that of their (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) competitors, which made their end products far too expensive. Geopolitics aside, they didn't have any competitive edge, it's difficult to see where they would get it, since both their raw materials and manufacturing equipment were majorly imported from Asia.

by pjmlpon 11/22/2024, 6:20 AM

They are not alone, apparently Ford is closing down EV factories due to lack of sales.

Get the prices down, and people will buy EVs.

by MichaelZuoon 11/22/2024, 2:17 PM

Why is this flagged?

by pstuarton 11/22/2024, 6:08 AM

Bummer. It would be nice not have all battery eggs in China's basket.

by guentherton 11/22/2024, 9:03 AM

Er, they filed for chapter 11, bankruptcy protection. It's not the end of the road, but rather a cry for help.