Last week’s bankruptcy filing by once-exulted Swedish battery developer Northvolt starkly revealed how slower demand for electric vehicles is rippling through European industry.
But while Northvolt largely supplies the automotive sector, it has also been developing battery technology for aircraft, having worked with well-known aerospace companies, including developers of electric air taxis, according to bankruptcy court filings.
Whether Northvolt’s financial troubles might affect its aerospace business or set back its ambition, stated in 2023, to spearhead an electric-aircraft transition, remains unclear. Also unclear is the degree to which electric aircraft developers depend on Northvolt’s technology.
What is clear is that Northvolt and recently shuttered US subsidiary Cuberg had relationships with some of the best-known electric-aviation start-ups, giving it a notable presence in that burgeoning sector.
Those start-ups include at least four air taxi developers: Vermont-based Beta Technologies, UK-based Vertical Aerospace, German firm Lilium, and Supernal, a Hyundai Motor subsidiary that has been expanding in the USA, according to papers recently filed by Northvolt with US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The document lists hundreds of entities with which Northvolt had ties, but it provides no details about the relationships. As such, it is not apparent if Northvolt supplied battery components to the aerospace companies listed.
Neither Supernal nor Vertical responded to requests for comment. Lilium has been seeking a buyer amid insolvency proceedings. Northvolt had previously said that Beta was a Cuberg customer, though Beta tells FlightGlobal it no longer has active partnerships with Northvolt or Cuberg.
Founded in 2016, Northvolt had been exulted as among the world’s most-promising battery developers. It was seen as key to helping power Europe’s transition to electric vehicles and as central to Europe’s envisioned clean-energy revolution. The company was also viewed as a leading Western competitor to China’s formidable battery industry.
But saddled with $5.8 billion in debt, Northvolt filed for bankruptcy restructuring on 21 November in the US court, attributing its woes to factors including a “slowdown in enthusiasm for electric vehicles”.
Court papers show Northvolt had ties with other US electric aviation companies, including aircraft developers Ampaire and Eviation, and electric-aircraft propulsion company Magnix. Those firms did not respond to requests for comment.
Northvolt has also worked with Heart Aerospace, a Swedish company developing a 30-seat hybrid-election regional passenger aircraft called the ES-30. Specifically, Northvolt and Heart partnered under the Electric Aviation in Sweden programme, an effort with funding from Swedish innovation agency Vinnova to develop regional electric aircraft.
Additionally, Northvolt’s founder and former chief executive Peter Carlsson is an advisor to Heart. Last week, Northvolt said Carlsson had stepped down as its CEO.
Asked to comment, Heart says its collaboration with Northvolt “focuses on testing the compatibility of Northvolt’s batteries with electric airplanes to identify the necessary adjustments for making them suitable for electric aviation”.
Northvolt was not a supplier to the ES-30, and Heart’s X1 demonstrator aircraft does not carry Northvolt batteries, Heart says. It adds that Carlsson remains an advisor, calling him “an amazing entrepreneur and an important resource and advisor to Heart”.
Northvolt’s California-based subsidiary Cuberg also filed for bankruptcy last week, with court papers saying the division let go its workforce and is “in the process of being wound down”. That move follows Northvolt’s August disclosure that it would relocate Cuberg’s work to Sweden.
Cuberg, a lithium-metal battery developer, had been central to Northvolt’s electric aviation ambitions. Northvolt acquired the firm in 2021, saying at the time that Cuberg’s customers included Boeing, Beta, Ampaire and VoltAero, a French developer of hybrid-electric passenger aircraft.
In April 2023, Northvolt said Cuberg had launched development of “high-performance battery systems” for electric aircraft. It said Cuberg would “provide the foundation to enable electric aviation”.
