Author name: Gerrit Bockey

Toyota Motor and LG Energy Solution have signed an agreement to supply lithium-ion batteries to be used in the Japanese automaker’s U.S.-built electric vehicles starting in 2025. LG Energy Solution (LGES) will invest $3 billion in its battery plant in Holland, Michigan, to supply Toyota’s Kentucky plant with battery cells from the awarded production lines. LGES will supply Toyota with 20 gigawatt hours of high-nickel NCMA battery cells and modules annually from the Michigan plant. The modules will be assembled into battery packs by Toyota in Georgetown, Kentucky, and installed in new electric vehicles. The agreement with Toyota means LGES will now supply five leading automakers, including Stellantis, Hyundai and Honda, with batteries from its eight jointly owned and operated North American plants. In August 2022, Toyota announced it would triple its investment in a new battery plant in North Carolina, which it will operate with longtime partner Panasonic as part of the Prime Planet Energy & Solutions joint venture, to $3.8 billion. The plant is expected to be operational in 2025. Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-lg-energy-sign-battery-supply-agreement-power-evs-2023-10-04/

NOVO Energy, a joint venture between Nortvolt and Volvo Cars, has received approval from the Swedish Land and Environment Court to build its battery gigafactory next to the Volvo Cars plant in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The new battery gigafactory in Gothenburg is expected to have an annual cell production capacity of up to 50-gigawatt hours when completed. Production is scheduled for 2026. Official construction work on site will begin Oct. 1. The city of Gothenburg is already implementing projects related to the gigafactory, which are being coordinated by the Gothenburg Economic Region. Treated wastewater will be used to cool the plant, and two large one-meter diameter pipes are currently being laid to transport water from the regional wastewater treatment plant to the Gigafactory. Gothenburg Energi and Vattenfall are building a power plant north of the site to connect the Gigafactory to the region’s 130 kV power grid. In addition, preparatory work is underway, including connecting the site to the district heating, water, stormwater and wastewater systems. The city of Gothenburg is planning to establish a training center for electromobility and battery production in Lindholmen. Employees, schoolchildren, adults, and vocational students will be trained there in modern learning environments. The city of Gothenburg and the Västra Götaland region are each investing around four million euros in the training center, which will open in the fall of 2024. Source: https://news.cision.com/business-region-goteborg/r/volvo-cars-and-northvolt-break-ground-on-gothenburg-gigafactory,c3844215

Swedish cell producer Northvolt is planning to build its North American cell production plant in Quebec, Canada. According to information from ‘The Globe and Mail’, the project is expected to be realized in Saint-Basile-le-Grand in the Richelieu Valley, and the estimated cost of the factory is around 7 billion US dollars. Québec is striving to establish itself as a leading center for electric vehicle battery development, attracting companies with its environmentally friendly hydroelectric potential as well as financial support from the federal government. Prime Minister François Legault and his cabinet colleagues see these efforts as the beginning of a new industrial revolution. The planned investments are on a scale not seen in the province since Hydro Québec’s major projects in the 1950s and 1960s. Québec bid to locate the plant as Canada seeks to compete with the U.S. cleantech industry, which received a boost last year from incentives under President Biden’s ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’ The Ottawa and provincial governments have allocated billions in public funds to encourage battery manufacturers and suppliers to set up production facilities in Quebec and Ontario Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-swedens-northvolt-picks-quebec-for-new-multi-billion-dollar-ev-battery/

The BMW Group gets the green light to build a high-voltage battery assembly plant in Straßkirchen. In a referendum, over 75 percent of residents favored the project. In the future, this new site will supply the Bavarian vehicle plants in Dingolfing, Regensburg, and Munich with high-voltage batteries for electric vehicles. The next step in the plant’s construction is already scheduled for October. The local urban land use planning department will hold its second public consultation, which will also include numerous expert reports commissioned by the BMW Group on the effects of locating the plant. After completing the first construction phase, the BMW Group plans to employ around 1,600 people at this future production site. Around 70 percent of them will come from existing BMW locations and will contribute their expertise to the development of the new site. In addition, the BMW Group plans to offer around 50 apprenticeships in cooperation with the Dingolfing plant at the planned location. Source: https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0437196EN/yes-to-bmw:-strasskirchen-residents-cast-clear-vote-for-new-high-voltage-battery-assembly-site