STOCKHOLM – Struggling Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt, once touted as Europe’s prime hope against Asian dominance in the electric vehicle (EV) battery market, has taken another significant step in its ongoing restructuring under Chapter 11 protection. The company has completed the sale of its entire stake in its recycling joint venture, Hydrovolt, to its partner, the Norwegian aluminum giant Norsk Hydro.
Full Control for Norsk Hydro Established in 2020 as a 50/50 joint venture, Hydrovolt operates one of Europe’s most advanced EV battery recycling plants. With this acquisition, Norsk Hydro now assumes full ownership and control of Hydrovolt's operations, aiming to streamline and secure the recycling circularity for its automotive and industrial customers. The transaction, valued at approximately NOK 78 million (~$7 million), provides Northvolt with immediate liquidity as it navigates through its complex bankruptcy process.
A Broad Asset Divestment This sale is part of a larger trend of asset liquidation for Northvolt. Following its Chapter 11 filing in early 2025, the company has been systematically selling off non-core assets. Other notable divested units include:
- Industrial Systems Division: This unit was acquired by Scania, one of Northvolt’s largest shareholders and customers, to safeguard its own supply chain for specialized industrial battery solutions.
- Core Production & R&D Facilities (Ett and Labs): Northvolt’s massive gigafactory complex, Northvolt Ett, and its research hub, Northvolt Labs, are set to be acquired by U.S.-based Lyten, a leader in 3D Graphene-based lithium-sulfur batteries, for an estimated total enterprise value nearing $5 billion.
A Strategic Shift for Europe Northvolt’s fragmentation represents a massive setback for the European Union’s ambition to establish a fully integrated, domestic green energy supply chain. At its peak, Northvolt held over $55 billion in orders from customers like BMW and Volkswagen, aiming for a 25% European market share by 2030. However, production bottlenecks, the cancellation of a key $2 billion BMW order, and fierce pricing pressure from Chinese competitors ultimately drove the pioneer into insolvency.
While the new owners plan to bring the assets back to full operation by the second half of 2026, the era of Northvolt as a unified European battery champion has come to a definitive end.
