On Thursday, it was announced that Northvolt is applying for reconstruction in the US under Chapter 11, with the plan to release 2.7 billion kroner.
There have also been reports that Northvolt is planning a reconstruction in Sweden as well.
– It would perhaps happen in a month or two, says Peter Carlsson in SVT’s Agenda.
“We misjudged the complexity”
Last fall, Northvolt stated that they had achieved a “record production” – 60,000 battery cells a week. However, the number is significantly less than what Peter Carlsson promised in 2017. At the time, he claimed that production could peak at 3,500 battery cells per minute, corresponding to 35 million batteries per week.
When Carlsson is pressed about the issue in Agenda, he says that in 2017 it was about a different type of battery cells than what the company then started producing.
Today, Northvolt is burdened with billions of dollars in debt, and when asked what the company has failed to do, Peter Carlsson answers:
– We misjudged the complexity of setting up such a large factory, bringing in so many new staff and the fact that this equipment we brought in was new.
He believes that Northvolt was the first major customer in Europe for some of the Asian suppliers they use and that therefore there were not sufficient and established service organizations available.
Carlsson also says that Northvolt’s products are difficult to produce.
– Making a battery from start to finish is over two hundred process steps, and if you want to make a really, really good battery, you have to put each process step in a very advanced process.
You must have known it was difficult?
– It is clear that I have known about it and we already showed in 2020 and 2021 that we can produce these batteries in Västerås, but the large scale up in Skellefteå with setting up that factory, it has taken longer than we thought.
“Should have pulled on the brakes earlier”
Peter Carlsson also says that they should have pulled the brakes earlier when the production in Skellefteå did not go according to plan.
– Of course I have to take it upon myself.
In Agenda, Carlsson also answers questions about the many workplace accidents, the money he himself earned from Northvolt and why he stayed away from interviews. See the full interview here.