The company’s woes are symptomatic of a wider malaise among companies that make batteries for electric vehicles.
The Swedish battery maker Northvolt, once seen as Europe’s strongest competitor to Chinese battery manufacturers, on Thursday filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States.
The company has been struggling financially for months, cutting jobs and restructuring operations. Founded in 2016 by a former Tesla executive, Northvolt said filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy would allow it to “restructure its debt, appropriately scale the business to current customer needs and secure a sustainable foundation for continued operation.”
The company has faced a series of challenges this year. They began with accidents at a plant in Sweden and the loss of a contract with BMW worth two billion euros, or $2.15 billion, in June. In September, Northvolt announced plans to pause production of cathode materials — one of the basic building blocks of a battery — at a factory in Skelleftea, Sweden.
Two planned factories in Germany and Canada are financed separately and will continue to operate outside of the bankruptcy process, the company said. Northvolt’s factories in Sweden would remain open and continue to make deliveries and pay vendors and employees, the company added. It expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection in the first quarter of next year.
“Despite near-term challenges, this action to strengthen our capital structure will allow us to capture the continued market demand for vehicle electrification,” Tom Johnstone, the company’s interim chairman, said in a statement.
The company reported a $1.2 billion loss in 2023, widening from a $285 million loss in the previous year.