Sweden's Northvolt pays its taxes amid concerns on viability

Struggling Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt has paid a tax bill of more than $27 million, a company spokesman told dpa on Monday.

The spokesman added that Northvolt was in continuing talks on further funding for its operations.

The company recently announced it would cut its staff complement by around 1,600 workers and has halted a number of plans to expand its operations.

The focus will now be on series production of battery cells in the Northvolt Ett plant in Skellefteå in northern Sweden, the first and only large-scale factory for battery cells owned by a European company to go into production.

According to Swedish media reports, Northvolt is in talks with investors and customers on funding the company. A Northvolt spokesman in Sweden told the TT news agency that progress was being made, but details remain unclear.

Taxes to the amount of around 287 million Swedish crowns ($27.61 million) fell due on Monday, amid media speculation that the company might be unable to make payment, even though chief executive assured Swedish broadcaster SVT that the amount would be paid on time.

Northvolt Germany head Christofer Haux said recently that the company was sticking to plans to build a plant in north-western Germany. "We need this factory in in Heide," he told a state parliamentary committee in Kiel by videoconference at the beginning of October.

The company aims to produce battery cells for up to a million cars per year in Heide to the north-west of Hamburg. Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the construction start for the project worth some $4.9 billion dollars at the end of March.