[Update] Scania will still use Northvolt batteries for some of its electric trucks despite the battery maker trouble

Update: October 31. We’ve updated our post compared to the very first version of it, due to a note sent by TRATON about some updated information contained in the quoted pieces of news.

During an interview reported by Bloomberg, Scania and Traton Group CEO, Christian Levin, has confirmed that the Swedish truck manufacturer will keep on using Northvolt batteries to equip some of the company’s electric trucks.

Here’s Christian Levin during a call with reporters, quoted by Bloomberg: “Not all Scania e-trucks delivered this year are coming with Northvolt batteries. We are in a change-over process. From BEV 1.0 to 3.0. BEV 1.0 is predominantly inner-city short distance trucks, that came with batteries from another supplier. But we are now shifting over. For the future, all our currently sold battery electric vehicles are of the so-called BEV 3.0 version, which are coming with Northvolt cells”.

Northvolt is “delivering according to the plan”

About possible delays in battery pack deliveries from Northvolt, Levin pointed out that “they are delivering according to plan. It is a plan that is satisfactory to us, given the total market right now”. “It lies in our interest, to make sure, they can continue to deliver cells to us, so that we can continue to deliver vehicles to our customers where we have a customer contract and a promise which is related to our brand”, he added.

Indeed, Levin clarified that the so-called BEV 1.0 are inner-city short distance trucks, while BEV 3.0 stands for the newest regional haulage truck from Scania. That means that not all Scania vehicles are coming with Nortvolt cells, but the new regional haulage truck will have them. Scania and TRATON CEO also said he won’t be leaving comments about Northvolt’s financial situation.

Scania to support Northvolt in the near future

The Volkswagen group, to which Scania belongs, is the major shareholder of the Northvolt project, thus offering support during the crucial scale up phase. As we wrote in the last few weeks, Northvolt is facing liquidity issues, mainly due to the withdraw of some valuable orders in the last months. The Swedish company was recently forced to declare bankruptcy for one of its companies, Northvolt Ett Expansion, as well as fire about 1,600 people in Sweden.

Now, Northvolt may soon receive about $300 million as a short-term financial boost. Electrive reports that “it is still unclear whether the deal will actually be finalised next week: due to the complex documentation for the deal with customers, investors and lenders, the final steps could still take some time”. Indeed, such an amount of money would be paramount to make the battery maker go on with its business and achieve the key target to manufacture battery cells in Sweden to serve the European automotive market.