New Northvolt owner wants to continue expansion

Signage is seen at the entrance to the Northvolt plant, dubbed Northvolt Six, in Saint-Basile-le-Grande, Que., on Thursday, March 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- U.S. battery manufacturer Lyten, which this week announced it was acquiring all the remaining assets of Sweden’s Northvolt, said Friday it would continue the expansion plans of its bankrupt rival.

Speaking at a press conference in the city of Skelleftea, home of Northvolt’s main factory, Dan Cook, CEO of Lyten, said that it would immediately begin re-hiring staff.

Cook said that the immediate goal was to restart production at the Northvolt Ett factory and the battery maker’s research and development facility in Vasteras.

“So our next focus is on continuing the expansion projects,” Cook told reporters. “These are projects that are critical to our business plan.”

Before it filed for bankruptcy, Northvolt reported having reached production capacity of 16 gigawatt hours (GWh), but had plans significantly expand capacity.

The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed, but Lyten said Thursday the assets had been “developed with over $5 billion in capital investment”.

Cook told broadcaster SVT on Friday that the acquisition had been made with a “deep discount.”

The court-appointed trustee managing the bankruptcy, Mikael Kubu, told the same press conference that the transaction still needed to clear regulatory approval.

He said he hoped the transaction for the Swedish assets would close by October.

Founded in 2016, Northvolt had been seen as a cornerstone of European attempts to catch up with Asia and the United States in the production of battery cells, the crucial component of electric vehicles.

Struggling under a mountain of debt, slow demand and production delays, the battery maker filed for bankruptcy in March of this year.

The company had filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States in November to buy time to find new investors, but its efforts ultimately failed, leaving its 5,000 employees with an uncertain future.

Lyten on Thursday announced it was acquiring all of Northvolt’s remaining assets in Sweden and Germany, where Northvolt is building another factory.

Lyten had already acquired several of Northvolt’s assets in November 2024, including a battery manufacturing facility in California.

In early July, Lyten announced it was acquiring Northvolt’s Polish operations.

The U.S. battery maker also said it had expressed interest in buying a manufacturing plant in Quebec, Canada and was continuing to work with Northvolt North America and federal and regional authorities.

Lyten was founded in 2015 and has focused on lithium-sulphur technology, where the batteries do not use nickel, manganese, cobalt or graphite, which are not mined or processed in large quantities in Europe or the United States.