STORY / PUBLIC SOURCE RECORD
Nordics playing a significant role in battery boom
- Published 13 March 2023; updated 30 September 2026; estimated reading time 4 minutes. The page retains time-bound forecasts and statements from 2023. It cites Buck Consultants International’s then-analysis expecting up to 100 new European battery plants in the following decade and about 800% worldwide market growth over five years, with Europe taking much of the expansion; most plants were expected to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
- Citing Transport & Environment research, it reports European battery-production forecasts of 238 GWh in 2025, 413 GWh in 2027 and 773 GWh in 2030, compared with 69 GWh in 2022. These are historical forecasts displayed on the page, not verified actual production figures.
- EBA250 programme director Thore Sekkenes said European battery investment and production were growing quickly. EBA250 is described as the European Battery Alliance’s industrial-development programme, managed by EIT InnoEnergy. The alliance was launched by the European Commission in 2017 to attract investment, build partnerships and shape regulation. The article says it had attracted nearly 800 industrial partners and that European investment across the value chain was approaching EUR 100 billion—nearly 30 times its 2017 level—while identifying upstream activity and recycling as gaps.
- EBA250 estimates cited by the article put a complete European battery value chain at up to EUR 250 billion annual value and up to 4 million jobs. Sekkenes argued that battery independence is needed for emissions targets and the automotive sector. His 2023 statements forecast that EVs would exceed 60% of new European vehicle sales by 2030 and reach 90% by 2040; he cited nearly 15 million European transport-sector jobs as exposed if battery production remains externally dependent.
- Three challenges identified by Sekkenes: secure raw materials (including lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel) with responsible European mining, refining and active-material production plus recycling; close the industrial skills gap, especially for building and operating factories; and increase financing for both new ventures and industrial transitions, particularly mining and refining.
- Norway, Sweden and Finland are presented as well positioned because of access to relatively inexpensive low-carbon electricity, an established processing/mechanical-industry base and investment capital. The article describes Nordic industrial cooperation as emerging from company partnerships and cross-investment.
- Examples include Hydrovolt, a battery recycler founded as a Hydro–Northvolt joint venture. It recovers copper, plastics, aluminium and black mass containing metals/materials including nickel, manganese, cobalt, graphite and lithium; the page says Hydro became its sole owner in January 2025. Morrow Batteries is described in the article as planning production at its Arendal plant in mid-2024 and as having produced over 1,000 batteries on an Asian production line. Those dates and claims appear in an article originally published in 2023, so the production schedule is historical.
- Quotes include European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič on the alliance’s role in competitiveness, decarbonisation and industrial resilience, and Morrow CEO Lars Christian Bacher on production readiness and research. Links: Battery and Energy industries, Hydrovolt, Morrow, EBA250, EIT InnoEnergy and Invest in Norway contact.