Tesla CEO Elon Musk made an unexpected visit to Germany this week to recruit new employees and discuss some issues related to the construction of Giga Berlin. However, this was not the only surprise visit, as Musk's jet made another unscheduled landing in Sweden.
Four hours ago, Musk's plane landed near Hagnesta, Södermanlands län, Sweden, sparking community interest. 14 Tesla vehicles and their owners have been spotted in Skavsta. Battery maker Northvolt has an office close to Skavsta in Västerås.
Source: Linus Sand / Facebook
Source: @ TeslaClubItaly / Twitter
Sweden is home to battery manufacturer Northvolt, whose Chief Executive Officer is former Tesla Vice President of supply chain, Peter Carlsson. As Tesla’s head of sourcing and supply chain from 2011 to 2015, Carlsson worked side-by-side with Musk over the course of four-and-a-half years.
Carlsson is the founder and CEO of Northvolt, which is building a battery factory in northern Sweden. They plan to start work on the foundation of this factory in Germany next year.
Northvolt is developing a next-generation lithium-ion battery production plan that is fundamentally different from traditional batteries. Using the concept of scalability, vertical integration, and automated manufacturing, the company aims to push the boundaries of battery performance, quality, and cost. Northvolt says clean energy will be the energy source for their battery cells. The description of the company states:
"At Northvolt, sustainability provides a bedrock to our mission of building a green lithium ion battery to enable the European transition to a clean, carbon-neutral energy future. We intend to set a new benchmark for sustainable manufacturing, not only of batteries but for manufacturing at large.
We have made a commitment to responsible sourcing and leveraging our position wherever opportunity arises to improve livelihoods of individuals within our sphere of influence. Through our due diligence and traceability strategy we will assure a value chain free of conflict, child labor and human rights abuses.
While Northvolt cell manufacturing will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy, investments in vertical integration and innovation of process design will enable us to optimize use of resources, as well as minimize the environmental footprint of Northvolt and its products.
We embrace the principles of circular economies at every opportunity, and seek to take advantage of opportunities for industrial symbiosis in all environments we have a physical presence.
Many of our highest ambitions center around the end-of-life handling of our products, where we have ongoing R&D projects to support deployment of state-of-the-art recycling capacities.
We recognize our responsibility as a global corporate citizen, and will work with employees, investors, partners, customers and communities to ensure that our products shift societies towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals."
© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
