Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
Northvolt的兴衰：从可持续性到电池地缘政治与北欧欧洲的工业失败
The rise and fall of Northvolt: From sustainability to battery geopolitics and industrial failure in the European Nordics
摘要
Northvolt was one of Europe's most ambitious electric vehicle battery manufacturers and recyclers. The Group aimed to produce low-carbon and recycled lithium-ion batteries in the gigafactory Northvolt Ett located in Skellefteå, northern Sweden. Its rapid development and abrupt collapse in a seemingly favourable policy context provide a critical entry point into the political economy of Europe's decarbonisation and reindustrialisation agenda. Based on an interdisciplinary single-case study, this article reconstructs Northvolt's trajectory at multiple territorial and governance levels (across municipal, Swedish, Nordic, and European policy levels). It draws on a qualitative research framework combining documentary analysis, field visits in Sweden, and seventeen semi-structured interviews with a multi-level sample (workers, industrial actors, researchers, trade union representatives and policymakers). We show that Northvolt's arrival was embedded in a broader shift in transition governance, from sustainability-oriented goals towards geopolitical and supply-security concerns. Yet, this reframing lacked corresponding transformation of public intervention instruments, leaving limited public capacities for strategic coordination and crisis response. This article analyses how this policy architecture helped Northvolt to build financial credibility, but simultaneously failed to address the project's systemic vulnerabilities. Two potential drivers of the failure at Northvolt Ett are examined in depth: offtake-related constraints and operational misalignments. Overall, the article brings an empirical analysis of the collapse of a European battery champion to the literature on the political economy of the energy transition.
中文摘要
Northvolt曾是欧洲最具雄心的电动汽车电池制造商和回收商之一。该集团旨在位于瑞典北部谢莱夫特奥的超级工厂Northvolt Ett生产低碳和回收锂离子电池。其在看似有利的政策背景下迅速发展并骤然崩溃，为研究欧洲脱碳和再工业化议程的政治经济学提供了关键切入点。基于一项跨学科单案例研究，本文在多个领土和治理层面（跨越市政、瑞典、北欧和欧洲政策层面）重构了Northvolt的发展轨迹。研究采用定性研究框架，结合文献分析、瑞典实地考察以及对多层次样本（工人、产业行为体、研究人员、工会代表和政策制定者）的十七次半结构化访谈。我们表明，Northvolt的到来嵌入在转型治理的更广泛转变之中，即从以可持续性为导向的目标转向地缘政治和供应安全关切。然而，这一重新框定缺乏公共干预工具的相应转变，导致公共在战略协调和危机应对方面的能力有限。本文分析了这一政策架构如何帮助Northvolt建立财务可信度，但同时未能解决该项目的系统性脆弱性。本文深入考察了Northvolt Ett失败的兩個潜在驱动因素：承购相关约束和运营错配。总体而言，本文为能源转型政治经济学文献提供了对一家欧洲电池冠军企业崩溃的实证分析。