On Tuesday, it was reported that the board of the battery manufacturer Northvolt plans to file for bankruptcy tomorrow if no new capital is injected. The announcement comes after a series of crises that have affected the so-called green battery giant over the past year.
Northvolt, which has long been highlighted and defended by Swedish politicians as the jewel of the transition, is now facing a bankruptcy threat that affects the entire Swedish operation.
In September last year, Northvolt announced layoffs for 1,600 employees. The company reported soaring losses totaling 12.5 billion kronor in 2023, and the financial situation has been consistently unsustainable. The top executive of the battery factory in Skellefteå resigned, followed by the company’s CEO Peter Carlsson at the turn of the year.
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At the same time, rumors have been circulating since last year that Northvolt has not managed to produce a single battery of its own, but instead purchased batteries from China and sold them as its own. Samnytt sought the company for comment in September last year, but Northvolt chose not to respond.
At the end of February, SVT revealed that the rumors from September were true: Northvolt’s so-called “entirely Swedish batteries” contain components purchased from China.
READ ALSO: Northvolt refused to answer Samnytt’s battery questions – already in September
On Tuesday, Dagens Nyheter reported that the board plans to file for bankruptcy, and the government has been informed of the situation. By tomorrow, March 12, the company must pay preliminary tax of 219.4 million kronor.
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It has also been noted that the debts in the parent company Northvolt AB are twice as large as the assets – 58 billion in debts compared to 23.5 billion in assets. At the turn of the year, the equity was minus 34.3 billion kronor.
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