Lyten CEO Dan Cook has presented the company’s revised plans for the battery cell factory in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, originally developed by Northvolt. While Lyten has secured approval to take over Northvolt’s sites in Germany and Sweden, Cook confirmed that the final sale process “is ongoing and details are subject to confidentiality.”
Speaking at a meeting with the state government in Kiel, Cook said Lyten intends to maintain the Heide location but will pursue a smaller-scale project than Northvolt had envisioned. “In principle, we are planning a phased and modular approach for the battery cell factory near Heide, with various chemistries – from Northvolt’s NMC lithium-ion technology to Lyten’s proprietary lithium-sulfur technology – and with an intelligent, data-driven manufacturing strategy,” he said.
See also: Lyten Secures Approval to Acquire Northvolt, Deal Set to Close by End of October
Northvolt had planned to build a gigafactory with an annual capacity of 15 GWh and create around 3,000 jobs, in addition to thousands more through suppliers and service providers. However, Sybilla Nitsch, the SSW’s economic policy spokesperson, said after a parliamentary committee meeting that Lyten now plans to create only about 1,000 jobs at the site.
No new figures have been released regarding the plant’s production capacity. Financing also remains unclear, as the €700 million in federal and state subsidies pledged to Northvolt cannot be automatically transferred to Lyten. Cook emphasized that the U.S.-based firm would rely primarily on private capital, noting, “It is important for private companies to use private funds for the majority of their development activities.”
See also: Lyten Appoints Former Northvolt Executives to Lead Swedish Operations
State Economics Minister Claus Ruhe Madsen welcomed that approach, saying it was “positive that Cook is accustomed to operating with private money.” However, he added that Cook also “expects Europe, i.e. Brussels, to come up with a tech programme to some extent.”