Northvolt is building in Heide
Political celebrities expected at groundbreaking ceremony for battery factory
March 24, 2024, 7:11 p.m
Tomorrow construction begins on the Swedish manufacturer Northvolt’s new battery factory in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein. Chancellor Scholz and Economics Minister Habeck are also expected at the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony.
The Swedish battery cell manufacturer Northvolt is celebrating the start of construction on a new factory in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, on Monday. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck and Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther are also expected to attend the groundbreaking ceremony.
The federal government is supporting the new “Gigafactory” with state aid worth almost one billion euros. The company itself is planning to invest 4.5 billion euros in order to produce batteries for one million electric cars every year at the new location. Production is scheduled to start in 2026 and create 3,000 new jobs.
“Northvolt’s investment will give further impetus to electromobility in Germany, make us more independent of imports and strengthen our automotive industry in international competition,” said a government spokesman.
The head of the Swedish battery cell manufacturer Northvolt, Peter Carlsson, previously praised the location for his new factory in Schleswig-Holstein. The small town of Heide “may not be immediately considered for a large industrial settlement,” Carlsson told Düsseldorf’s “Wirtschaftswoche”. “But if you’re looking for renewable energy, if it’s about the availability of talent and a great willingness in the region to welcome us, then Heide is the perfect place.”
Despite the current difficulties in selling electric cars and increasing competition from China, he considers Germany to be an attractive industrial location. “The willingness to buy new electric cars may have been dampened at the moment,” said Carlsson. “But the megatrend of electrifying transport is as strong as ever because the electric motor is simply so much more efficient than the combustion engine.”