Earlier this month, after being contacted by SVT, Northvolt published a statement on its website in which it said “to date, Northvolt has sourced cathode active material for its cell production from external parties” while it worked to establish its own in-house cathode active material production, listing China, Japan, South Korea and Sweden as approved sources.
It comes as a documentary programme to be shown in Sweden on Wednesday by the national broadcaster SVT, exposes the company’s failure to build a truly homegrown battery after its attempts to produce its own cathode active material at its Northvolt Ett factory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, were unsuccessful.
“We communicated our intention to pause the production of cathode material in a press release on 9 September last year, and the sourcing of cathode material has been described in various contexts, for example our annual reports 2021-2023.
Northvolt, which claims to run Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory, admits it depends on Chinese suppliers for cathode active material.
The Swedish startup Northvolt has admitted that a vital component of its batteries is imported amid claims that the company, which claims to run Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory, depends on Chinese suppliers.
