Northvolt declares bankruptcy in Sweden
Northvolt, which was supposed to build a battery plant in the Montérégie, has declared bankruptcy in Sweden. Quebec and Ottawa were so keen to bring this business here – didn’t anyone do the due diligence of examining the firm’s books? How much public money will be washed down this drain (“Le dossier a des allures de fiasco pour les contribuables”)?
Jim 08:30 on 2025-03-12 Permalink
The investment wasn’t necessarily foolish, but it was a high-stakes gamble with some questionable risk management. If Quebec ignored red flags, it was naïve. If they understood the risks but saw it as worth the potential reward, it was a calculated risk that just didn’t pay off.
Kate 08:51 on 2025-03-12 Permalink
I tend to suspect it was why Pierre Fitzgibbon exited so quickly from political life, but perhaps in time we will find out what happened.
Mark 18:00 on 2025-03-12 Permalink
Yeah something stinks here. I get that there is risk involved in this venture, because the battery/energy storage/EV market is evolving rapidly, so there was always a chance that we would invest in something that would flop or be less successful on the market. Like it’s the late 70s and we bet on Betamax instead of VHS.
But that’s not what’s happening here. We put all our money into a company that went bankrupt less than 2 years after we chose to invest in them. Where did our subsidies go? CEO payouts, loan interest, etc.
There are some pretty well established names in this list below that I feel would have been better. Unless Northvolt was promising something that these companies could not deliver on, but then, maybe that’s why they went belly-up, smoke and mirrors?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Battery_manufacturers
Ian 18:16 on 2025-03-12 Permalink
Oh it’s ok, the CAQ sill make the money back nickel and diming health and education /s