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Sweden's green industry hopes hit by Northvolt woes

BBC
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Swedish start-up Northvolt opened its flagship production plant here in 2022 .

It signed multi-billion euro contracts with carmakers including BMV , Volkswagen and Scania .

But it ran into major financial troubles last year , reporting debts of $ 5.8bn (4.6bn) in November .

Since September it's laid off around a quarter of its global workforce including more than 1,000 staff in Skellefteå .

Just 3% of global battery cell production currently takes place in Europe - with Asian firms leading the market.

The Swedish government refused to bail out Northvolt , suggesting all startups sustainable or not should be subject to market forces.

The right-wing coalition, which came into power in 2022 has cut taxes on petrol and diesel, and abolished subsidies for EVs.