Northvolt in the crisis: Does the battery factory near Heide false?

Northvolt in the crisis: Does the battery factory near Heide false?

Heide, Deutschland - northvolt, the Swedish battery producer, is on the verge of financial disaster! Research show that the work in Heide, which is supposed to produce batteries for one million electric cars every year, is not the focus of VW and the federal government. Despite the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, worries are about. Production in Sweden is running slowly, and in September the factory only reached five percent of its capacity. In addition, Northvolt has massive problems to comply with delivery contracts and is desperately looking for 176 million euros to make ends meet. A journalist even warns that the Heide project could be on the brink!

Volkswagen, the largest shareholder of Northvolt with over 21 percent, wants to concentrate on its own batteries in the future, since the sales of the electrical models in Germany have collapsed by 68 percent. The importance of the Heide location for VW is classified internally as low, and the automotive giant is fighting for the market shares against cheaper Chinese competition. While the federal government is promoting 564 million euros, the Ministry of Economic Affairs emphasizes that the future of battery production in Europe does not depend on a company. The uncertainty about the progress in Heide remains, while the production plans have to be postponed to adapt to the dramatic market development. Further reports and details can be found in a current article on www.ndr.de .