Swedish battery maker Northvolt says head of Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory to step down

Sweden’s Northvolt on Wednesday said the head of its main plant, Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory for lithium-ion battery cells, will step down with immediate effect.

It comes shortly after the cash-strapped company announced plans to reduce its workforce by about 25% in Sweden as part of a major cost-cutting drive.

Mark Duchesne, CEO of Northvolt Ett, will be replaced on an interim basis by Angéline J. Bilodeau, the firm’s vice president of operations in North America, the company said in a statement.

The position will be held until the end of the year as the company seeks to secure a permanent replacement for CEO of Northvolt Ett, it added.

Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Northvolt is one of Europe’s most valuable privately held tech firms that builds lithium-ion batteries for the electric vehicle industry. It has partnerships with a number of major European automakers, including Volkswagen and Volvo.

In an update published Sept. 23, Northvolt said that following initial steps taken as part of a strategic review, the company had revised its scope of operations in Sweden “to ensure that its resources are focused on accelerating production in large-scale cell manufacturing at Northvolt Ett.”

The strategic action required the company to cut a total of 1,600 jobs in Sweden, Northvolt said.

Alongside plans to lay off staff, Northvolt said at the time that it would suspend plans for a sizable expansion of Northvolt Ett, noting the project had been intended to provide an additional 30 gigawatt hours of annual cell manufacturing capacity.

On Tuesday, a Northvolt Ett subsidiary filed for bankruptcy following the decision to suspend the expansion project — an update that underscores the group’s deepening financial struggles.

Separately, Swedish automaker Volvo Cars on Wednesday announced deputy CEO Björn Annwall will step down from his current role as part of a management reshuffle.

The reorganization at Volvo Cars comes shortly after the firm scrapped its near-term goal of selling only electric vehicles, citing a need to be “pragmatic and flexible” amid changing market conditions and cooling demand.