Northvolt’s ambition was to become a European batterymaker to rival Chinese battery behemoths like CATL and BYD. They wanted to offer a homegrown supply chain to western automakers. But in November, the company announced its bankruptcy.So what went wrong?In this episode, Shayle talks to Sam Jaffe, principal at 1019 Technologies. They walk through Northvolt’s timeline from founding to bankruptcy, including the loss of a $2B deal with BMW. They discuss lessons learned and cover topics like: What went well — from fundraising billions of dollars to securing major off-takersWhat didn’t go well — like trying to build multiple types of batteries, in multiple factories, on multiple continentsHow venture capital investors may have pushed the company to be too ambitiousThe tradeoffs of choosing NMC over LFPChallenges with their equipment supplier Wuxi LEADThe upside: Sam’s belief that Northvolt’s factory will ultimately make batteriesRecommended resourcesLatitude Media: What Northvolt's bankruptcy means for Europe's battery ambitionsIntercalation: Battery production is genuinely difficultBloomberg: Northvolt Has Major Obstacles Ahead Even With Bailout In ReachCatalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub is working with more than 70 utilities across North America to help scale VPP programs to manage load growth, maximize the value of renewables, and deliver flexibility at every level of the grid. To learn more about their Edge DERMS platform and services, go to energyhub.com.