Truck and commercial vehicle maker Scania has unveiled a battery cell for heavy electric vehicles jointly developed with Northvolt that has demonstrated an outstanding service lifespan in validation tests, with the capability to power trucks for 1.5 million kilometres, roughly equivalent to the vehicles entire lifetime.

The Swedish truck heavyweight said in a statement that the lithium-ion battery, produced with fossil-free electricity in northern Sweden, has a carbon footprint that is approximately one-third of a comparative industry reference.

According to Scania, in 2017, it joined forces with another “sustainability frontrunner” Northvolt to develop and commercialise “a world-leading battery cell” for heavy commercial vehicles.

The partnership has now resulted in the production of the cell at Northvolt Ett gigafactory in northern Sweden. In addition, later this year, Scania will inaugurate a new battery factory in Södertälje, Sweden, where battery cells will be assembled into battery packs for the start of production of heavy-duty electric trucks.

Peter Carlsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Northvolt, said: “At the outset of this partnership, Northvolt and Scania agreed to an ambitious timeline for the development of a high-performance battery cell which would enable their plans for electrifying heavy transport. To have proceeded through extensive development and validation phases, and now be delivering cells from Northvolt Ett which exceed our initial expectations in terms of performance is a tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved.”

Christian Levin, CEO, Scania, added: “Today marks a milestone on the path towards a sustainable transport system. The future of heavy transport is electric, and to enable the shift and to continue delivering on our brand promise towards customers to be premium, Scania needs top-performing battery cells for our electric trucks.

“As the development of the battery cell started, we targeted high performance, low operating costs and long lifetime. We decided on a requirement for the cell to enable a 1.5-million-kilometres-long lifetime for a heavy-duty Scania vehicle. The tests show that this requirement can not only be met, but also exceeded.”

As part of the company’s commitment to establishing a supply of sustainable cells, Northvolt Ett is powered by 100% fossil-free electricity generated by hydro power and wind power. Due to the fossil-free energy and integration of additional sustainable production features at Northvolt Ett, the estimated carbon footprint of the cell at full serial production is approximately one-third that of a comparative industry reference cell, Scania pointed out in its statement.

“Northvolt’s mission to build the world’s greenest batteries matches Scania’s purpose to drive the shift towards sustainable transport perfectly. I’m truly looking forward to putting the final puzzle pieces together ahead of the take-off of premium electric vehicles later this year,” said Levin.

Cell specifications

• Cell format: Prismatic
• Capacity: 157 Ah
• Nominal voltage: 3.6 V
• Lifetime: 1.5 million kilometres in heavy-duty commercial transportation