TORONTO/STOCKHOLM — Northvolt, a Swedish lithium-ion battery company, announced on Thursday that it would build a $5.2 billion gigafactory in Quebec, the largest ever investment in the Canadian province and the most recent in the country’s electric vehicle battery manufacturing capacity.
The first phase of the Northvolt Six manufacturing near Montreal will begin this year, with the facility slated to be ready in 2026. Northvolt will provide $3.2 billion of the total, with the municipal and federal governments each contributing $1 billion, according to Northvolt Co-Founder Paolo Cerruti.
According to Cerruti, the first phase will supply 30 gigawatt hours (GWh) of production capacity before eventually rising to 60 GWh, with investments approaching $9 billion. Northvolt already has multiple European factories and is one of a few companies establishing a domestic battery industry to compete with Asian manufacturers.
In its drive to become Europe’s largest battery maker, it has raised more than $9 billion in debt and equity since 2017, including $1.2 billion last month from investors including the Canada Pension Plan and the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.
Northvolt has contracts totaling more than $55 billion, with mostly European customers such as BMW, Scania, Volkswagen, and Volvo Cars.
