BMW Cancels Battery Contract with Northvolt, Future Plans Unclear
TapTechNews June 22nd news, according to a Reuters report, the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt, founded by a former Tesla executive, failed to fulfill a long-term supply agreement, and BMW recently cancelled the battery contract signed with Northvolt in 2020, worth more than 2 billion euros (TapTechNews note: currently about 15.56 billion yuan).
Northvolt announced last year that its sodium-ion battery technology has achieved a major breakthrough in energy density and is expected to be a viable and economical substitute for lithium iron phosphate battery LFP (currently used in most mid-range and economy electric vehicles).
In a statement on June 20, BMW said: Northvolt and the BMW Group have jointly decided to focus Northvolt's business on the development of the next-generation battery. The BMW Group still has a strong interest in establishing a high-performance, recycled and sustainable battery manufacturer in Europe.
BMW indicated that after terminating the agreement, it still hopes to establish a high-performance, recycled and sustainable battery manufacturer in Europe, but it is not yet clear whether BMW intends to continue internal battery production or switch to another external supplier.
According to CarBuzz, BMW had previously planned to have a mass-producible solid-state electric vehicle battery ready before the launch of its first Neue Klasse vehicle in 2025, but these plans seem to have been postponed to at least 2030.
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