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Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt announced Monday it is cutting 1,600 jobs in Sweden — about 20 per cent of its workforce — as it plans to “concentrate all energy and investments on (its) core activities” in a difficult financial context.
The company said Sept. 9 it would “maintain its commitments” for the construction of three major installations, one of them a cell factory on the South Shore of Montreal, but would unveil a revised timetable for those works “as well as all other actions necessary to reduce costs.”
The company said it is cutting 1,000 jobs at its installation in Skellefte, 400 in Vsters and 200 in Stockholm. The cuts will be negotiated with the unions involved.
In a statement, Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson said that “while the global dynamic in favour of electrification remains strong,” the company must ensure it takes “the right measures at the right time to respond to the headwinds of the automobile market and to the larger industrial climate.”
As part of its restructuring, the company will suspend development of its expansion of its Northvolt Ett factory in Skellefte as well as slow down its expansion program at its laboratories in Vsters.
Those reductions will lead to a drop in administrative requirements, which explains the job cuts at the firm’s head office in Stockholm.
Two weeks ago, Northvolt announced it would abandon it plans for a cathode production plant in Borlnge and put cathode activities at its main factory in Skellefte on hold.
Northvolt’s financial difficulties were the topic of debates in the National Assembly last week as questions were raised over the blocks of hydro-electric energy reserved by the government for the company’s expansion in St-Basile-le-Grand and in McMasterville in the Montrgie.
The $7 billion project has seen Ottawa and Quebec pledge $2.4 billion funding. However the form of project may be revised given Northvolt’s decision to prioritize battery cell production over cathode-related activites.
The construction site in the Montrgie has been plagued by vandalism, including the discovery of incendiary devices. At the end of February, police opened an investigation after individuals laid spiked mats at the site. In January, the company said nails or metal bars had been inserted into about 100 trees. An anonymous group claimed responsibility on an anarchist website, saying the motive for their “sabotage” was to protest against the megaproject, which they said would destroy woods and wetlands and perpetuate car culture.
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/more-bad-news-for-northvolt-as-it-cuts-1600-jobs-in-sweden
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- Why is an ENVIRONMENTLY DESTRUCTIVE {contrary to MAINSTREAM MEDIA propaganda} and ECONOMICALLY UNVIABLE industry (the electric vehicle VALUE CHAIN) being HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED like NO OTHER INDUSTRY ?
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