By Marie Mannes
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Scania said on Monday it had secured a new supply of battery cells in addition to its deal with Northvolt, as the Swedish truckmaker warned it will miss its 2025 targets to cut emissions due in part to problems with electric battery deliveries.
Northvolt, once considered Europe’s best hope for an electric vehicle battery champion, filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last November and is seeking to raise cash and restructure its debt.
Reuters in January reported that Scania, which is Northvolt’s top customer and a shareholder, had stepped in to help Northvolt with the day-to-day running of its flagship plant in northern Sweden in an effort to boost quality and output at the electric vehicle battery maker.
The Swedish truckmaker had relied on Northvolt as its sole supplier, but CEO Christian Levin said last year that it was in talks with other battery cell makers about potentially supplying its future electric fleet.
Scania’s electrification plans have been hindered by Northvolt’s struggle to ramp up output.
The news comes after Scania and its German owner Traton warned earlier on Monday that the Swedish company will miss its 2025 target of a 20% reduction in scope 3 emissions, meaning trucks in use by its customers.
“Our ramp up of battery electric trucks did not move as quickly as we had intended,” Scania said in its report.
Levin said on Monday in a written comment sent to Reuters that the company is currently receiving more battery cells from Northvolt than it is using in its own truck making, but was still diversifying its supply.
“We have accelerated our supplier strategy and have secured future deliveries of battery cells,” Levin said.
A Scania spokesperson declined to name any additional suppliers.
A Northvolt spokesperson declined to comment.
The truckmaker said that it had delivered a total of 77 zero-emission vehicles in the fourth quarter, and 266 in total for the full year of 2024.
(Reporting by Marie Mannes, editing by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Terje Solsvik and David Evans)
