Swedish battery maker Northvolt will build a $5 billion lithium-ion battery factory in Quebec, Canada, the company announced Thursday.
The factory, the company’s first outside of Europe, represents the largest private investment in the Canadian province’s history. It is planned to include 60 gigawatt-hours of battery production capacity, with adjacent facilities for cathode active material manufacturing and battery recycling.
Construction on the project is scheduled to begin later this year and operations are expected to begin in 2026. Northvolt will employ up to 3,000 people at the site.
The battery maker said it chose the 170-hectare site near Montreal after an “extensive review” of North American locations. The company will also house its North American headquarters in Montreal, which will be led by co-founder Paolo Cerruti.
“In the seven years since Northvolt was founded, we have pursued a singular goal: to establish a new sustainable model for battery manufacturing,” CEO and co-founder Peter Carlsson said in a statement. “Today, we’re expanding our ambitions by bringing Northvolt to Canada.”
Founded in Stockholm in 2016, Northvolt currently delivers batteries from its factory in Skellefteå, Sweden, and from its R&D and industrialization campus in Västerås, Sweden. The company employs more than 5,000 people in Sweden, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the United States and Canada.
Like many manufacturers, Northvolt was influenced by the Inflation Reduction Act. The law provides tax credits for electric vehicles with at least 50% of their components manufactured in North America.
“He definitely played a big role in accelerating our decision to expand into North America,” Cerutti told CNBC.
