At the Northvolt factory in the city of Skellefteå, the production record was broken

Swedish growth company Northvolt has managed to raise its production of lithium ion batteries to a new peak, reports the financial news agency Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, the company’s factory in the Swedish city of Skellefteå produced 60,000 lithium-ion battery cells last week.

Northvolt spokesperson Matt Kataja says this is the highest production volume ever. Production has thus tripled since the beginning of the year.

It is also about the first good news in a long time that comes from the factory of Northvolt, which manufactures batteries for electric cars. The Skellefteå factory has been in the news this year because of what happened there due to deaths and accidents.

This year, four factory workers have died outside of their shifts.

Northvolt has been in recent months in an economic headwind.

The company said at the beginning of September that it would have to lay off its employees and reduce its operations. At the same time, it announced that it would stop the production of cathode active materials (CAM) used in lithium-ion batteries at the factory and start procuring replacement materials from China or South Korea.

A week ago, Northvolt, on the other hand, said that they were suspending everything its payment functions and staff trips. The announcement applies not only to the factory in Skellefteå, Sweden, but also to the company’s operations in Poland, Germany and Canada.

The background to Northvolt’s financial problems is the weaker-than-expected sales of electric cars in Europe. In addition, the company has had difficulty sticking to the contracts it has signed with car manufacturers.

For example, the German BMW canceled an order agreement with Northvolt worth two billion euros. According to the Reuters news agency, the company was unable to deliver batteries to BMW on time.

The truck company Scania said the same earlier this year Swedish Dagbladetillethat the production of its electric trucks has been delayed due to Northvolt’s delivery difficulties.

This week, however, Scania’s CEO said for Reutersthat the company still intends to remain loyal to Northvolt and continue its battery contract with it.

”

Northvolt has been facing financial headwinds in recent months.

Bloomberg says that Northvolt is currently negotiating a financing agreement with banks and its investors. According to Bloomberg, the company would need a capital investment of approximately EUR 658 million to avoid a liquidity crisis.

The company has so far collected around EUR 13 billion in risk money for its business. In January, it also announced about a 4.6 billion euro “green” loan it had received to expand the giant factory in Skellefteå.

Northvolt’s financiers have included, among others, Volkswagen, Goldman Sachs, BMW, Siemens and Blackrock.

Northvolt was the first European electric car battery manufacturer. It started operating at the end of 2021.