Northvolt tried to do too much, too quickly, and that caused the significant management problems that plunged the battery maker into its current crisis, according to former employees who spoke to the Financial Times.
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“Even when we only had one or two projects [à Skellefteå]we couldn’t supply,” a former Northvolt research and development engineer told the British publication, on condition of anonymity.
“Then they started talking about opening new factories. Shouldn’t we focus on doing the first one right? Their eyes were bigger than their stomachs,” he added.
The Financial Times collected the anonymous testimony of around ten people who have worked or who still work for the Swedish company, which notably has a $7 billion factory project in Quebec. According to them, it was the desire to do too much, too quickly, which caused the multiple problems at the origin of the crisis at Northvolt.
“Making batteries is difficult. We tried to do almost everything at the same time, said a former executive. And the problems just kept piling up. I don’t know how they can cope now.”
It must be said that the company’s CEO, Peter Carlson, has already admitted to having been “too bold” when announcing a “strategic review” last July.
Chinese machines
But the problems raised in the article Financial Times far exceed the excess of audacity.
Even as Northvolt aspires to reduce Europe’s dependence on resources from China, a construction worker reportedly claimed that hundreds of Chinese and Koreans would work at the battery maker’s factory in northern China. Suede.
“They stay in their own camp apart, and they come every day to install and operate the machines,” he said, according to the Financial Times.
All this led to significant financial difficulties which forced Northvolt to cease development of its factory in northern Sweden and to cut 1,600 jobs out of a total of 6,500.
Work progresses in Quebec
Despite everything, the battery manufacturer has repeatedly assured that its project in Quebec still stands.
“The land preparation work is progressing on the Northvolt Six site, in McMasterville and Saint-Basile-le-Grand,” we can read in a message published earlier this month by the company on the social network LinkedIn .
“Since June, 60% of the excavation of the first building has been completed, the equivalent of 46,000 m3 of excavated soil. In addition, 600 rigid inclusions were installed to improve the stability of the ground.
