By Marie Mannes
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Norway’s Hydro said on Thursday it is now solely financing the Hydrovolt battery recycler which it set up with joint venture partner Sweden’s Northvolt.
The Norwegian group recently raised its stake in Hydrovolt to 62% from the original 50% when the partnership was established in 2020, a Hydro spokesperson said.
“Currently Hydro is the only one financing the operations of Hydrovolt,” the spokesperson for the Norwegian metals maker told Reuters.
A spokesperson for the joint venture Hydrovolt said operations and activity was continuing as planned, in line with the board’s strategy.
Northvolt, once hailed as Europe’s best shot at a home-grown electric-vehicle battery champion, is racing to stay afloat by slimming down and cutting jobs, hobbled by production problems, loss of a major customer contract and a lack of funding.
“We remain an active owner, board member and partner in Hydrovolt, and will continue to work with Hydrovolt and Hydro to grow and enhance the business, as we have done since 2020,” Northvolt said in an emailed statement.
On Wednesday, Volvo Cars said it was seeking to take over Northvolt’s stake in their Swedish battery-making joint venture NOVO, as Northvolt had stopped contributing funds.
The formation of Hydrovolt was key to Northvolt’s goal of sourcing 50% of raw materials from recycled batteries by 2030, reducing the need for mining, improving security of supply and lowering the environmental footprint, the companies have said.
Northvolt has said it is now focusing on boosting output from its core battery cell-making business, and is working to secure funding.
(Reporting by Marie Mannes; Writing by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Anna Ringstrom, Lisa Shumaker, Elaine Hardcastle)
