European EV Battery Maker Files for Bankruptcy

The company was negatively affected by slow EV adoption, suffering a net loss of $1.2 billion last year.

(L-R) Swedish Ambassador to Germany Veronika Wand-Danielsson, Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Guenther, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck, Northvolt CEO Peter Mikael Carlsson, and Northvolt-Germany CEO Christofer Haux are pushing a button for the new Northvolt Gigafactory electric car battery factory in Lohe-Rickelshof, Germany, on March 25, 2024. Gregor Fischer/Getty Images

Swedish electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Northvolt filed for bankruptcy after the company’s dreadful liquidity position left the business with only one week’s worth of cash to fund its operations.

The Chapter 11 petition was filed at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Nov. 21. The company listed assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion, with the number of creditors estimated to be between 1,000 and 5,000. Established in 2016 in Stockholm, Northvolt is an energy-storage company that manufactures lithium-ion batteries.