The company insists it will honour its commitments to construct three major projects, including the cell factory on Montreal’s South Shore.
Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt announced Monday it is cutting 1,600 jobs in Sweden — about 20 per cent of its workforce — as it plans to “concentrate all energy and investments on (its) core activities” in a difficult financial context.
The company said it is cutting 1,000 jobs at its installation in Skellefteå, 400 in Västerås and 200 in Stockholm. The cuts will be negotiated with the unions involved.
In a statement, Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson said that “while the global dynamic in favour of electrification remains strong,” the company must ensure it takes “the right measures at the right time to respond to the headwinds of the automobile market and to the larger industrial climate.”
As part of its restructuring, the company will suspend development of its expansion of its Northvolt Ett factory in Skellefteå as well as slow down its expansion program at its laboratories in Västerås.
Those reductions will lead to a drop in administrative requirements, which explains the job cuts at the firm’s head office in Stockholm.
Two weeks ago, Northvolt announced it would abandon it plans for a cathode production plant in Borlänge and put cathode activities at its main factory in Skellefteå on hold.
The $7 billion project has seen Ottawa and Quebec pledge $2.4 billion funding. However the form of project may be revised given Northvolt’s decision to prioritize battery cell production over cathode-related activites.