Siemens partners with Northvolt to produce green lithium-ion batteries

Global technology company Siemens has partnered with Northvolt to manufacture next-generation lithium-ion battery cells.

Under the technology partnership, which includes the supply of lithium-ion batteries, Siemens will make an investment of €10m.

Established in 2016, Northvolt aims to build the world’s greenest battery, with minimum carbon footprint and maximum recycling scope that will help Europe to speed up its transition to renewable energies.

Northvolt’s team is currently engaged in building the next-generation battery factory focused on process innovation, scale and vertical integration.

Northvolt co-founder and CEO Peter Carlsson said: “The European industry is moving rapidly towards electrification.

“With its world-class expertise within electrification, automation and digitalisation, Siemens will become an important technology partner, supplier and customer to Northvolt in this coming transition.”

Siemens intends to purchase batteries from the factory, with Northvolt serving as its preferred supplier once the large-scale production facility enters operational service.

In addition, Siemens will offer its Digital Enterprise portfolio that ranges from manufacturing planning and design software to automation, including industrial communications networks and cloud solutions, to support Northvolt in building the plant.

Siemens digital factory division CEO Jan Mrosik said: “With our Digital Enterprise portfolio, we contribute to a competitive battery cell production in Europe that fully exploits the benefits of software and automation: greater flexibility, efficiency and quality with shorter time to market.”

Upon completion it is set to become Europe’s largest battery factory, with a potential to produce 32GWh worth of battery capacity on an annual basis.