Germany: Lyten to launch battery production at former Northvolt site in Heide by 2028

US battery manufacturer Lyten plans to create around 1,000 jobs at the Northvolt site in Heide (Schleswig-Holstein). Lyten CEO Dan Cook has now informed representatives of the state government about this. The battery factory is scheduled to begin operations in 2028 and will produce cells for a wide range of applications.

 

Following the insolvency of Swedish battery cell manufacturer Northvolt, its plans to establish a cell factory in Heide, which would have created 3,000 jobs, appeared doomed. However, in August, a surprising development unfolded when US battery manufacturer Lyten announced its intention to take over Northvolt’s sites in Sweden and Germany. Since then, there has been renewed optimism for the Heide site, where the land had already been prepared, but construction of the battery cell factory, named Northvolt Drei, had never truly begun.

 

Now, roughly six months later, Lyten CEO Dan Cook presented his plans for the Heide site to the state government in Kiel in Northern Germany. Lyten’s ambitions are significantly more modest than Northvolt’s original plans. As in October, Lyten aims to create ‘only’ 1,000 jobs—just one-third of the number Northvolt had envisioned for its heavily state- and federally funded project.

 

At the same time, Cook emphasised that the new factory would operate relatively independently of the ramp-up of electric mobility. “We plan to manufacture batteries for a wide range of applications, including defence, stationary energy storage, mobility, and electric vehicles,” Cook stated, adding: “We are not Northvolt, we are Lyten.”

 

The former Northvolt site in Heide will not only be used for battery cell production but also for battery storage systems and data centres. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with battery cell production expected to start in 2028.

 

Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister-President Daniel Günther (CDU) welcomed the announcement, describing the timeline outlined by Cook as a positive signal. He added that outstanding issues would now be addressed in coordination with the federal government, stressing that the next steps require alignment at the national level.

 

Indeed, Cook is scheduled to meet with representatives of the federal government later this week. This is particularly necessary because, while the takeover of the insolvent Swedish parts of Northvolt—namely the main factory in Skellefteå and the development centre in Västerås—has been completed, negotiations with the federal government, the state-owned development bank KfW, and the state of Schleswig-Holstein regarding the German Northvolt subsidiary are still ongoing.