What went wrong at Northvolt?

Northvolt’s ambition was to become a European batterymaker to rival Chinese battery behemoths like CATL and BYD. They wanted to offer a homegrown supply chain to western automakers. But in November, the company announced its bankruptcy.

So what went wrong?

In this episode, Shayle talks to Sam Jaffe, principal at 1019 Technologies. They walk through Northvolt’s timeline from founding to bankruptcy, including the loss of a $2B deal with BMW. They discuss lessons learned and cover topics like: 

• What went well — from fundraising billions of dollars to securing major off-takers
• What didn’t go well — like trying to build multiple types of batteries, in multiple factories, on multiple continents
• How venture capital investors may have pushed the company to be too ambitious
• The tradeoffs of choosing NMC over LFP
• Challenges with their equipment supplier Wuxi LEAD
• The upside: Sam’s belief that Northvolt’s factory will ultimately make batteries

Recommended resources

Latitude Media: What Northvolt's bankruptcy means for Europe's battery ambitions

Intercalation: Battery production is genuinely difficult

Bloomberg: Northvolt Has Major Obstacles Ahead Even With Bailout In Reach

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