Scania and Northvolt have unveiled a new EV battery capable of powering trucks for 1.5 million kilometres.

In validation tests, the lithium-ion cell has demonstrated a capacity equivalent to a truck’s entire lifetime.

Produced with fossil-free electricity in northern Sweden, Scania said the cell’s carbon footprint is approximately one-third that of a comparative industry reference.

In 2017, Scania and Northvolt joined forces to develop and commercialise a battery cell for heavy commercial vehicles. Now the partnership and its close collaboration have come to fruition with the cell is being produced at Northvolt Ett gigafactory in northern Sweden.

In addition, later this year, Scania will inaugurate a new battery factory in Södertälje, Sweden, where battery cells will be assembled into battery packs for the start of production of heavy-duty electric trucks.

“At the outset of this partnership, Northvolt and Scania agreed to an ambitious timeline for the development of a high-performance battery cell, which would enable their plans for electrifying heavy transport,” said Peter Carlsson, CEO and co-founder of Northvolt.

“To have proceeded through extensive development and validation phases, and now be delivering cells from Northvolt Ett that exceed our initial expectations in terms of performance, is a tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved.”

Scania CEO Christian Levin said the announcement  marks a milestone on the path towards a sustainable transport system.

“The future of heavy transport is electric, and to enable the shift and to continue delivering on our brand promise towards customers to be premium, Scania needs top-performing battery cells for our electric trucks,” he said.

“As the development of the battery cell started, we targeted high performance, low operating costs and long lifetime.

“We decided on a requirement for the cell to enable a 1.5 million kilometres-long lifetime for a heavy-duty Scania vehicle. The tests show that this requirement can not only be met, but also exceeded.”

Cell specifications

• Cell format: Prismatic
• Capacity: 157 Ah
• Nominal voltage: 3.6 V
• Lifetime: 1.5 million kilometres in heavy-duty commercial transportation