Key moment as first "Made in EU" li-ion battery produced

Battery maker Northvolt has produced the first-ever fully European designed, developed and assembled lithium-ion battery cell at its facility in Västerås, northern Sweden.

The news is an important milestone for the company and the EU, one which the company described as "marking a new chapter in European industrial history".

Northvolt said the prismatic cell left the assembly line on December 28 and that commissioning and upscaling of the gigafactory will continue through into 2022, when the first commercial customer deliveries will be made.

Read more: Galp and Northvolt to build Europe's largest lithium plant

Peter Carlsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Northvolt, said: "Today is a great milestone for Northvolt which the team has worked very hard to achieve. Of course, this first cell is only the beginning. Over the course of the coming years, we look forward to Northvolt Ett expanding its production capacity greatly to enable the European transition to clean energy."

The company is aiming to increase production over the coming years towards its 60 GWh annual goal, which would fulfil more than $30 billion (€26.5 billion) worth of contracts that Northvolt has signed with its customers, which include Scania, Volkswagen, BMW, Polestar and Fluence.

The announcement will have been welcomed in Brussels, which has been attempting to create a battery value chain across the bloc since 2017 when it launched the European Battery Alliance (EBA). The EBA's purpose is to aid the EU's transition to clean energy without relying too heavily on third countries.

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