(Bloomberg) -- Northvolt AB has hit a new high for the production of lithium-ion battery cells at its main plant in Sweden, even as the company scales back some operations to address a financing crunch.
The group produced 60,000 cells at the Skelleftea site last week, its highest tally ever, meaning that production has increased threefold since the start of the year, spokesperson Matti Kataja said. “We now need to stay focused to further increase deliveries to our customers,” he added.
The incremental progress in lifting production comes at an acute time for Northvolt. The company is conducting a strategic review of its operations while also negotiating a new financing pact with its lending banks and investors. In January, the company secured a $5 billion green loan, taking its overall debt and equity investment to more than $13 billion, as it seeks to establish a home-grown supply chain of electric vehicle batteries in Europe.
But that goal has faced a number of financial and operational hiccups in recent months with reports that the company needs a capital injection of at about 7.5 billion Swedish kronor ($735 million) to avert a liquidity crisis. Creditors are now preparing for a range of scenarios at the Swedish manufacturer and have hired investment bank PJT Partners to help advise them, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
A key obstacle for Northvolt has been the pace of battery production as well as the quality of the cells. Speaking on the sidelines of the IAA Transportation truck show in Germany this week, the chief executive officer of truckmaker Scania told Reuters that Northvolt was now delivering batteries in line with a plan.
Those comments were “a big motivational push for our cell production crew,” Northvolt’s Kataja said in emailed comments.
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