Northvolt will close its subsidiary Cuberg’s research and development facility in San Leandro, California, moving it to the electric vehicle battery company’s R&D campus in northern Sweden.
The Oct. 19 closure will affect 223 employees in the Bay Area, per a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act filing with the state. Cuberg, which has been developing Northvolt’s lithium-metal battery technology, will integrate with Northvolt Labs, the company announced in September.
The decision is part of the startup’s strategy to consolidate its R&D and industrialization cell production portfolio into one location, the company stated in the release. Northvolt encouraged laid-off employees to apply for jobs at the its Sweden or Montreal sites, the latter is where Northvolt North America is located.
However, Northvolt announced on Sept. 9 that plans to curb its spending amid reports of financial troubles. The company said it would stop production of cathode active materials batteries, cancel the development of an additional Swedish plant and likely lay off additional employees.
“[W]e are having to take some tough actions for the purpose of securing the foundations of Northvolt’s operations to improve our financial stability and strengthen our operational performance,” Northvolt CEO and co-founder Peter Carlsson said in a statement.
The EV battery startup has encountered setbacks this year. In June, BMW dropped a 2 billion euros contract with the company, citing delays on Northvolt’s part in scaling production, Reuters reported. And while EV sales increased globally in August, they dropped a third in Europe month over month — a decline likely due in part to the end of German EV subsidies in December 2023.
On Sept. 14, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said there are no plans for the Swedish government to bail out Northvolt, Financial Times reported.
