The management of Northvolt somehow had the idea, that by partnering with Wuxi Lead, a leading Chinese supplier of industrial machinery, specializing in the production of equipment used in lithium-ion battery manufacturing, they could build battery manufacturing in Europe intended to directly compete with Chinese battery manufacturers.
There were ideas for German car battery manufacturing by Germany's Robert Bosch, the world's biggest automotive supplier, long before Northvolt. But Bosch decided that battery manufacturing it was too low margin business.
""Given dynamic external market factors that can only be predicted with difficulty, it is unclear whether this investment would pay off for Bosch, and when," Bosch said in a statement on Wednesday."
Chinese automakers are eating the low and mid-price range carmakers lunch. And it seems nothing helps:
- Local battery technology (Northvolt): Failed
- Taxes on Chinese imported cars: Failed (they are to cheep, and the EU doesn't want to be too aggressive)
It isn't all sunshine and roses in China either, they recently were banned from selling at a loss and are struggling to adapt: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/06/18/0033211/chinas-ev-p...
The management of Northvolt somehow had the idea, that by partnering with Wuxi Lead, a leading Chinese supplier of industrial machinery, specializing in the production of equipment used in lithium-ion battery manufacturing, they could build battery manufacturing in Europe intended to directly compete with Chinese battery manufacturers.
https://thedeepdive.ca/did-china-sabotage-northvolt-unraveli...
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202602/1354840.shtml
There were ideas for German car battery manufacturing by Germany's Robert Bosch, the world's biggest automotive supplier, long before Northvolt. But Bosch decided that battery manufacturing it was too low margin business.
""Given dynamic external market factors that can only be predicted with difficulty, it is unclear whether this investment would pay off for Bosch, and when," Bosch said in a statement on Wednesday."
https://www.reuters.com/article/business/bosch-shuns-battery...