US Battery Startup Lyten to Acquire Northvolt Assets in Sweden, Germany

Silicon Valley startup Lyten said on Aug. 7 that it has entered a binding agreement to acquire all of Northvolt’s remaining assets in Sweden and Germany, aiming to expand its lithium-sulfur battery technology into Europe as the continent seeks alternatives to Chinese-controlled supply chains.

Scandinavian electric vehicle (EV) battery maker Northvolt filed for bankruptcy in March in one of the largest corporate collapses in Swedish history.

Lyten said that the acquisition includes Northvolt Ett and Ett Expansion (Skelleftea, Sweden), Northvolt Labs (Vasteras, Sweden), Northvolt Drei (Heide, Germany), and all remaining Northvolt intellectual property.

In June, Lyten took over the Northvolt Dwa site in Poland.

The company said that it plans to “immediately restart” operations in Skelleftea and Vasteras once the deal is complete, which it expects will be at the end of the year.

Lyten makes lithium-sulfur batteries that do not contain nickel, cobalt, or manganese, materials whose supply is dominated by China, making them cheaper and potentially more sustainable.

Lyten CEO and cofounder Dan Cook said in a statement that the company’s mission is to be a leading supplier of locally sourced and manufactured batteries and energy storage systems in both North America and Europe.

He said that demand is “growing exponentially to meet energy independence, national security, and [artificial intelligence] data center needs.”

Lyten has raised more than $625 million from investors, including Stellantis, FedEx, and the U.S. government.

Founded by former Tesla executives, Northvolt had aimed to be a European-owned gigafactory, producing lithium-ion cells at scale and capturing 25 percent of Europe’s battery market by 2030.

Lithium-ion batteries, used in a huge range of electronic devices, from smartphones to laptops, are also the dominant power source for EVs because of their high energy density, lightweight design, and ability to be recharged.

On March 12, Northvolt AB announced that after an “exhaustive effort to explore all available means to secure a viable financial and operational future,” it had filed for bankruptcy in Sweden.

Under the European Green Deal, beginning in 2035, all new cars sold in the European Union must produce zero carbon dioxide emissions, effectively banning the sale of new vehicles powered by fossil fuels.

The European Battery Alliance, launched in 2017 by the European Commission, has the political objective of ensuring that European manufacturers produce almost 90 percent of the EU’s annual battery deployment needs in 2030.

Since 2001, Beijing has poured massive state support into strategic sectors such as batteries, as outlined in its five-year plans.

Today, China has a major role in each stage of the global battery supply chain and “dominates interregional trade of minerals,” according to a May report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In July, Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) said in a report that China “weaponizes capitalism against free-market nations.”

“Under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), China is not merely a country with different geopolitical goals and economic practices but rather the proponent of an economic model that is fundamentally incompatible with the market-based functioning of the global economy,” FDD stated.

“China’s non-market practices, including monopolization, price manipulation, subsidies, export dumping, IP theft, and knowledge transfers, affect industries and supply chains throughout the global economy.”

Writing in the Winter 2022–2023 Texas National Security Review, former U.S. National Security Council China Director Liza Tobin said China’s “brute force economics” has set off alarm bells in Washington and allied capitals.

“Of particular concern is the country’s emergence as a dominant player in a growing number of strategic industries such as steel, aluminum, solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, high-speed rail, commercial drones, telecoms network equipment, and even energetic materials that power the U.S. military’s missiles and rockets,” she said.

Earlier this year, Skydio, the United States’ largest drone manufacturer, faced a supply chain crisis after Beijing prohibited Chinese companies from supplying Skydio with lithium-ion batteries and other components critical for building drones.

Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank and former Pentagon official, previously told The Epoch Times that the West needs to restrict Western supplies to China.

“The United States should not approach strategic technology and resources as an either-or prospect,” he said. “Sure, some technologists suggest a next generation of batteries could supplant the need for lithium. But until that happens, and so long as China seeks to corner the lithium trade, then the United States must seek to prevent China from accessing the technology or means to dominate us.”

On Aug. 6, the European Central Bank said Europe and the United States have become significantly more vulnerable to supply disruptions from China in key sectors such as energy, health care, and digital technologies. The bank said that even small shocks to these “critical dependencies” could have outsized economic costs.

Reuters and James Xu contributed to this report.