Northvolt, Scania unveil Prismatic Battery cells for heavy-duty electric transportation

Battery firm Northvolt and automaker Scania have recently unveiled a jointly developed battery cell for heavy electric vehicles. In validation tests, the lithium-ion cell have demonstrated an outstanding lifetime resulting in the capacity to power trucks for 1.5 million kilometers – equivalent to the truck's whole lifetime, according to the developers. 

Produced with fossil-free electricity, the cell's carbon footprint is approximately one-third that of a comparative industry reference, they claim. The prismatic cells have a capacity of 157 Ah each, operating in a nominal voltage of 3.6 V. 

The companies joined forces to develop and commercialize a battery cell for heavy commercial vehicles back in 2017, and now the efforts have come to fruition as the cell is being produced at Northvolt Ett gigafactory in northern Sweden. 

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Peter Carlsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Northvolt, commented, "At the outset of this partnership, Northvolt and Scania agreed to an ambitious timeline for the development of a high-performance battery cell which would enable their plans for electrifying heavy transport. To have proceeded through extensive development and validation phases, and now be delivering cells from Northvolt Ett which exceed our initial expectations in terms of performance is a tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved."

Northvolt Ett gigafactory is powered by fossil-free electricity generated by hydro power and wind power. As a result, the estimated carbon footprint of the cell at full serial production is approximately one-third that of a comparative industry reference cell (IVL 2019 lithium-ion NMC 111 cell), according to the company. 

"Northvolt's mission to build the world's greenest batteries matches Scania's purpose to drive the shift towards sustainable transport perfectly. I'm truly looking forward to putting the final puzzle pieces together ahead of the take-off of premium electric vehicles later this year," said Christian Levin.

Scania, on the other hand, will be inaugurating a new battery factory in Södertälje, Sweden, later this year, where battery cells will be assembled into battery packs for the start of production of heavy-duty electric trucks.

RELATED: Scania launches battery-electric trucks for regional long-haul in Europe

"Today marks a milestone on the path towards a sustainable transport system. The future of heavy transport is electric, and to enable the shift and to continue delivering on our brand promise towards customers to be premium, Scania needs top-performing battery cells for our electric trucks", said Scania's CEO Christian Levin. 

He further added, "As the development of the battery cell started, we targeted high performance, low operating costs and long lifetime. We decided on a requirement for the cell to enable a 1.5 million kilometers long lifetime for a heavy-duty Scania vehicle. The tests show that this requirement can not only be met, but also exceeded".