Specialist
Former Manager at a battery developer and manufacturer
Agenda
- Key scale-up challenges and internal culture
- Northvolt’s business model breakdown and alternative revenue streams
- Competitive positioning
- Battery usage in energy storage
Questions
1.
Recent news flow indicates that Northvolt might be speaking about an IPO, is in talks with bankers and is currently valued at more than USD 20bn. The company’s latest official funding came from a EUR 1.1bn convertible bond. Could you highlight the 1-2 most important ways that its previous capital had been used after it was raised in 2022?
2.
What timeline are you thinking of for a potential IPO for Northvolt?
3.
How would you describe the culture at Northvolt, and in what ways does it enable the innovation and success that we’re seeing?
4.
Do you foresee any challenges in terms of Northvolt’s ability to integrate and continue the open culture that you described as seamlessly as possible, as it now faces quite an extensive scale-up journey?
5.
What are the 2-3 key advantages of Northvolt’s business model that set it apart from its competitors?
6.
We’re speaking about a first-mover advantage for Northvolt. What are the core parts of this advantage? How has it enabled the company to move faster? Was it the initial partnerships it was able to set up? Was it the amount of funding it received first?
7.
In terms of Northvolt’s major competitors, the company is competing with some of the largest manufacturers, such as China’s CATL, LG Chem and Panasonic. How do its recycling operations compare, which you said is its biggest advantage?
8.
Could you break down Northvolt’s business model? What makes it so successful?
9.
How have market shares been trending across other major battery manufacturers, and where do you rate Northvolt among them?
10.
Do you see any significant changes to market shares within the next 18 months or so?
11.
Do you expect Northvolt to make any changes or innovate its business model in any major ways over the next 1-2 years?
12.
What are the 1-2 most important revenue drivers for Northvolt currently?
13.
Could you discuss the end segments that Northvolt is targeting for its different products? How does that differ in terms of the cells and systems products it offers?
14.
Could you break down the revenue proportion that Northvolt is pursuing or currently has from automotive vs ESS [energy storage system] batteries?
15.
You mentioned that you could foresee Northvolt becoming a very premium battery manufacturer for European high-end cars. How would you reconcile that vision with the company’s most recent valuation of up to or beyond USD 20bn and its ability to then drive and dominate in the automotive battery market?
16.
In terms of Northvolt’s systems products, could you compare the Voltblocks vs Voltracks vs Voltpacks? Which do you think has the greatest usage potential?
17.
You mentioned Fluence. What would you say are the most beneficial synergies from Northvolt’s partnership with US-based Fluence, a global player in energy storage products and services?
18.
Within the Fluence partnership, what major challenges could you foresee or make you doubt using NMC [lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide] chemical batteries for ESS?
19.
What is the potential of newer chemistries such as LMNO [lithium manganese nickel oxide] or LMFP [lithium manganese iron phosphate]? How are you thinking about them for Northvolt?
20.
Northvolt argues that its batteries are sourced directly from the miners and that it has cut through the middlemen in the supply chain, as we discussed. Can you shed some light on the main sources for the company’s raw materials?
21.
Northvolt has set a goal to have 50% of all its raw materials sourced from old batteries by 2030. Do you see this as achievable?
22.
In terms of the CAPEX required to source, find and get the raw materials, what cost reduction can be gained from recycling old batteries instead?
23.
How significant is the cost difference between producing a new battery and a recycled one?
24.
Do you want to highlight anything else on Northvolt?
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