Volvo Cars to Set Up Research Site in $3.3 Billion Battery Push

(Bloomberg) -- Volvo Car Group and Northvolt AB are forging ahead with a 30 billion kronor ($3.3 billion) push to make electric-vehicle batteries in Europe.

The companies said Friday they’ll set up a research facility in Gothenburg, Sweden next year that will sustain “a few hundred” jobs. They’ll decide on a specific location for their battery factory in the region early 2022.

“Our partnership with Northvolt secures the supply of high-quality, sustainably-produced batteries for the next generation of pure electric Volvos,” Volvo Cars Chief Executive Officer Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement.

Volvo Cars has gained more than a third since its October trading debut in Stockholm as investors bought into the company’s turnaround and promise of an electric future. The carmaker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. plans to sell only fully electric vehicles by the end of this decade -- up from 4% of shipments in the three months trough September.

Construction of the factory that’s supposed to supply batteries for Volvo and Polestar models is to begin in 2023, with the start of large-scale production targeted three years later.

The plant is expected to employ some 3,000 people and have an annual capacity of 50 gigawatt-hours of cells -- enough to supply around half a million cars.

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