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FEW EuropeanEVGWGWGWEVEVEVEVEVLGLGESSKCATLLGESEVCATLYour browser does not support the element. startups have attracted as much attention—and none as much capital—as Northvolt. On November 21st the Swedish maker of batteries for electric vehicles (s), and a would-be European champion, went bankrupt, having raised $15bn from governments and investors. Its boss, Peter Carlsson, resigned shortly after.Northvolt’s demise widens an already gaping hole in Europe’s battery-making industry. The firm’s production capacity of 16 gigawatt-hours (h) accounted for less than a tenth of the continent’s total (and problems with manufacturing meant it used only a fraction of that). But by the end of the decade, the company’s capacity was supposed to rise about four-fold, helping expand overall European capacity from 192h to 1,142h, according to Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, a research firm. That now looks optimistic.The collapse of a competitor may seem like good news for Europe’s other -battery hopefuls, but they are unlikely to cheer. The circumstances of Northvolt’s failure, including the huge technical challenge of scaling production, will not inspire investors to support similar ventures. European carmakers that were backing battery-makers to further their own plans have scaled back investments and partnerships in response to slowing demand for s. PowerCo, owned by Volkswagen, delayed expansion plans last year. sales in Europe dropped by 5% in the first ten months of this year, compared with the same period in 2023; in Germany they fell by 27%. s’ share of total car sales in Europe slipped from 14% to 13%.As hopes for a homegrown champion fade, Europe must turn to foreign battery-makers. Energy Solution (), a South Korean manufacturer, runs the continent’s biggest battery facility in Poland, which accounts for half of Europe’s capacity. Next are Innovation, also South Korean, and China’s , the world’s largest maker of batteries. In recent months, however, the two South Korean companies have signalled a pause in their expansion plans as they cut sales targets. said in October it was considering converting -battery lines to grid-scale batteries.That leaves the continent with two options: , which has made global expansion one of its priorities, or imports from China, which manufactures around four-fifths of the world’s lithium-ion batteries. Neither option will delight European policymakers.
