Truck maker Volvo has postponed the start of work on its Swedish battery factory by between 12 and 24 months as demand for its product weakens, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The project was announced two years ago with work expected to start next year.
This may now be pushed back to 2027.
The company has a 57% share of the European electric truck market, and has also been a pioneer in electric construction machinery.
But demand for its trucks around the world has declined for the past five quarters, which the company blames on a lack of charging stations and insufficient public subsidies.
This setback comes as Northvolt, another Swedish company and Europe’s champion in the emerging EV battery industry, put back its plans for expansion while it concentrated on solving its production problems (see further reading).
The WSJ noted that Chinese producers have acquired a strong position in the battery and EV markets, and dominate the supply of certain minerals, leaving European EV makers exposed to geopolitical or trade shocks.
In particular, battery maker CATL and vertically integrated EV company BYD have more than half of the global EV battery market between them.
“We are looking over the timing for this construction to safeguard that we ramp up our own production of cells in sync with the pace of increasing demand,” a Volvo spokesperson said. “If and how this will affect the overall project remains to be seen.”
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Further reading
