Northvolt and Scania unveil green battery capable of powering trucks for 1.5 million kilometers
19 April, 2023
Produced with fossil-free electricity in northern Sweden, the cell’s carbon footprint is approximately one-third that of a comparative industry reference.
Today, Northvolt and Scania unveiled a jointly developed battery cell for heavy electric vehicles. In validation tests, the lithium-ion cell has demonstrated an outstanding lifetime resulting in the capacity to power trucks for 1.5 million kilometers – equivalent to the truck's whole lifetime. Produced with fossil-free electricity in northern Sweden, the cell’s carbon footprint is approximately one-third that of a comparative industry reference.
In 2017, sustainability frontrunners Scania and Northvolt joined forces to develop and commercialize a world-leading battery cell for heavy commercial vehicles. Now the partnership and its close collaboration have come to fruition as the cell is being produced at Northvolt Ett gigafactory in northern Sweden. In addition, later this year, Scania will inaugurate a new battery factory in Södertälje, Sweden, where battery cells will be assembled into battery packs for the start of production of heavy-duty electric trucks.
Premium requirement met and exceeded
Peter Carlsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Northvolt, comments: “At the outset of this partnership, Northvolt and Scania agreed to an ambitious timeline for the development of a high-performance battery cell which would enable their plans for electrifying heavy transport. To have proceeded through extensive development and validation phases, and now be delivering cells from Northvolt Ett which exceed our initial expectations in terms of performance is a tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved.”
Scania’s CEO Christian Levin says: “Today marks a milestone on the path towards a sustainable transport system. The future of heavy transport is electric, and to enable the shift and to continue delivering on our brand promise towards customers to be premium, Scania needs top-performing battery cells for our electric trucks.” “As the development of the battery cell started, we targeted high performance, low operating costs and long lifetime. We decided on a requirement for the cell to enable a 1.5 million kilometers long lifetime for a heavy-duty Scania vehicle. The tests show that this requirement can not only be met, but also exceeded,” says Christian Levin.
Low carbon footprint
As part of the company’s commitment to establishing a supply of sustainable cells, Northvolt Ett is powered by 100% fossil-free electricity generated by hydro power and wind power. Due to the fossil-free energy and integration of additional sustainable production features at Northvolt Ett, the estimated carbon footprint of the cell at full serial production is approximately one-third that of a comparative industry reference cell (IVL 2019 lithium-ion NMC 111 cell)*.
“Northvolt’s mission to build the world’s greenest batteries matches Scania’s purpose to drive the shift towards sustainable transport perfectly. I’m truly looking forward to putting the final puzzle pieces together ahead of the take-off of premium electric vehicles later this year,” says Christian Levin.
Cell specifications
Cell format: Prismatic
Capacity: 157 Ah
Nominal voltage: 3.6 V
Lifetime: 1.5 million kilometers in heavy-duty commercial transportation
Carbon footprint: Cradle-to-gate climate change impact calculation was prepared in the manner proposed by EU legislation using the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) EF2.0 database, to provide a projection of cell footprints from Northvolt Ett in full serial production.
About Northvolt
Northvolt is a European supplier of sustainable, high-quality battery cells and systems. Founded in 2016 to enable the European transition to a decarbonized future, the company has made swift progress on its mission to deliver the world’s greenest lithium-ion battery with a minimal CO2 footprint and has grown to over 4,500 people from over 110 different nationalities. Northvolt has to date secured more than $55 billion worth of contracts from key customers, including BMW, Fluence, Scania, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars and Polestar, to support its plans, which include establishing recycling capabilities to enable 50 percent of all its raw material requirements to be sourced from recycled batteries by 2030.
About Scania
Scania is a world-leading provider of transport solutions. Together with our partners and customers we are driving the shift towards a sustainable transport system. In 2022, we delivered 80,238 trucks, 4,994 buses as well as 13,400 industrial and marine power systems to our customers. Net sales totalled to over SEK 170 billion, of which over 20 percent were service-related. Founded in 1891, Scania now operates in more than 100 countries and employs nearly 57,000 people. Research and development are mainly concentrated in Sweden. Production takes place in Europe and Latin America with regional product centres in Africa and Asia. Scania is part of TRATON GROUP. For more information visit: www.scania.com
