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The first European “gigafactory” is operating at full speed

Swedish battery maker Northvolt, better known as Europe’s first “gigafactory”, began commercial deliveries to carmakers last week. Europe is increasingly seeking to oppose Asian dominance over the supply of some batteries for electric vehicles, Bloomberg reports.

The first deliveries, which came from Northvolt’s plant in Shelefteo, Sweden, were made on schedule, a company spokesman said. It employs about 150 people a month in the plant, which currently employs about 1,000 workers.

Northvolt’s launch has been a success for Europe in the battery industry, but soaring commodity prices, including lithium and cobalt, are a problem.

Northvolt, which plans to increase production for the rest of the year, said it has provided more than $ 50 billion in contracts from electric car makers such as BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo Car and Polestar.

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The total number of employees at the plant in the town of Skelleftea is likely to reach 4,000, compared to the previous employment forecast of 3,000.

This week, the company announced that it has started commercial recycling of batteries for electric vehicles at Hydrovolt in Fredrikstad, Norway, a joint venture with Hydro.

Hydrovolt is the largest recycling plant for electric vehicle batteries in Europe, with a capacity to handle around 25,000 batteries per year.

The Swedish company Northvolt opened its own “gigafactory” in northern Sweden at the end of last year. This is the first factory of its kind built by a European company on the continent.

Even then, it became clear that Northvolt already had orders worth 26.5 billion euros from European car giants, including BMW and Volkswagen, as well as from Sweden’s Volvo, with which it is planning a second European plant.

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