Home city of ABB Sweden is selected for R&D and demonstration line, as plans proceed for green-energy battery factory
Northvolt, which plans to build Europe’s largest and most advanced lithium-ion battery factory, has chosen Västerås, the hometown of its partner in the effort, ABB Sweden, as the location for the program’s Research and Development operations and a demonstration production line.
ABB Sweden hailed the choice of Västerås, which will provide an opportunity to leverage the company’s local expertise and continue the city’s growth as a technology center, while enhancing Swedish competitiveness as a whole.
“This is very positive for Sweden and for Västerås as a city. With the Northvolt R&D site and factory for the demonstration line, there are 500 employment opportunities. We are proud to be a part of the operations as we will support Northvolt with ABB’s industrial automation and smart electrification solutions”, says Johan Söderström, Managing Director, ABB Sweden.
As the Energy Revolution has spurred the use of renewable energy sources and lowered the reliance on fossil fuels, electrification and storage are the keys to a carbon-neutral society. The Northvolt factory will play a vital role in this green-energy transition by providing European customers in automotives and other key industries with high-quality and customizable lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other applications requiring high-capacity energy storage.
Volume production of the batteries will be conducted at a factory located 740 kilometers to the north, in Skellefteå, Sweden, Northvolt said.
The demonstration line in Västerås will be ready by 2019 and enable Northvolt to continuously optimize products and processes. The lithium-ion battery factory will start production in 2020.
The new Västerås and Skellefteå operations will showcase ABB’s leadership in industrial automation expertise, integrating robotics, machine and factory automation, electrification and ABB Ability – ABB’s unified, cross-industry digital offering.
