A large Chinese supplier to the battery industry is investing $1.3bn in a Swedish factory in the latest sign of western countries deepening their reliance on the Chinese clean tech sector.
Shanghai-listed Putailai is building Europe’s largest factory for manufacturing anodes, a crucial part of the batteries that go into electric vehicles, in Sundsvall in central Sweden where it will take advantage of the country’s abundant green electricity.
Northvolt, the Swedish start-up that has become Europe’s leading player in batteries, will be the first main customer. People close to the company suggest that buying anodes from Sundsvall could cut its carbon footprint for the component by more than 90 per cent compared with importing them from China.