The Land and Environment Court at Vänersborg District Court has approved Novo Energy’s application for a battery factory in connection to the Volvo Cars factory in Torslanda in Gothenburg.

– It’s a milestone for us. The work can now begin properly and we can start on the groundwork for Sweden’s second, and Gothenburg’s first, gigafactory for the green batteries of the future, writes Adrian Clarke, CEO of NOVO Energy, in a comment.

The battery factory, which will manufacture lithium ion batteries for Volvo Cars’ electric vehicles, will eventually have 3,000 employees.

– We will soon have 200 employees and will at some point have 3,000. That’s an enormous investment for both Northvolt and Volvo Cars and for the whole region, says Christian Jebsen, head of communications at Novo Energy.

Jobs in Skellefteå

Some of the future employees in Gothenburg have the opportunity to start working now at the Northvolt factory in Skellefteå.

– To get a little head start we have offered those who want to, the opportunity to work in Skellefteå the first 18 to 24 months and then come back to guaranteed jobs in Gothenburg, says Christian Jebsen.

The factory that is being planned in Torslanda has a potential capacity for up to 50 gigawatt hours per year. That is the equivalent of half a million car batteries annually.

According to plan

The construction is to begin this year according to plans and be operational in 2026.

– We are quite well-positioned according to the time schedule we had. We had hoped to receive the decision before most people go on holiday and we did, says Christian Jebsen.

– Although we’ll have to wait before we can cut down trees in the area, primarily due to protection of birdlife, so work will not start until October.