EV battery maker Northvolt faces major roadblocks [Video]

Swedish electric vehicle battery manufacturer Northvolt is fighting for its survival as Canadian taxpayer money and pension fund investments hang in the balance.

Reuters reported that the company has considered whether to seek bankruptcy protection in the United States as it continues to deal with a growth slowdown in the EV market and struggles to ramp up production at a plant in Sweden.

As a result, it has cast doubt about the future of a gigafactory to be built on a site the size of three hundred football fields in St-Basile-le-Grand, on the south shore of Montreal.

Greig Mordue is an associate professor of engineering at McMaster University, and the chair of advanced manufacturing policy. He says taxpayers should be disappointed, but not surprised by the turbulence at Northvolt.

“Manufacturing is hard,” says Mordue. “Automotive manufacturing in particular is hard and battery manufacturing is essentially an unknown. Northvolt is essentially a startup, …