Scania In Talks With EV Battery Suppliers As Partner Northvolt Stutters, says CEO

Talks for EV Batteries: Swedish truckmaker Scania is in talks with battery cell makers about potentially supplying its future electric fleet but remains committed to its current partner, beleaguered Swedish firm Northvolt, its CEO told Reuters in an interview.

Scania, which is part of Volkswagen-owned Traton Group, wants half of its vehicle sales to come from electric trucks by 2030.

However, y currently make up less than 1 per cent of sales, and ir rollout has been hampered by production and delivery problems at cash-strapped Northvolt.

"We talk to everyone in order to make sure that we are not going to end up in problems if y (Northvolt) have problems," Christian Levin, CEO of both Traton and Scania, told Reuters in an interview, declining to name or cell makers.

Levin reiterated firm's desire to stick with Northvolt, which he said were manufacturing " only green cell in industry". "We support m in any way we can," he said.

company h always planned to engage or suppliers given its anticipated EV ramp up over coming years, he ded.

Volkswagen is Northvolt's biggest stakeholder, owning 21 per cent of company, according to its annual report, but this week battery marker confirmed that Volkswagen's investment chief was leaving its board. Volkswagen declined to comment on move.

Northvolt and Volkswagen entered a $14 billion supply agreement in 2021 spanning next 10 years.

Levin, who was visiting Japan with his executive board as part of an Asia trip that also included China, where company is building a major new production hub, said broer challenge facing its green plans is a lack of political support.

US President-elect Donald Trump, a climate change sceptic, is planning to kill electric vehicle tax credits introduced by his predecessor, sources told Reuters. He may also again withdraw world's biggest economy and second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases from Paris climate agreement.

But Levin said Trump was only part of problem.

"I'm afraid on a global level that I see that this transformation is going too slowly and that policymakers are not supportive enough," he said.

"I'm of course also worried for company who is investing so much in se technologies, because we really bet company on this... world is out of sync. That worries me. So it's not just Trump."