Source: European Parliament
The Commission is actively monitoring Northvolt’s situation to mitigate potential negative impacts on the European battery value chain.
While this bankruptcy, that is mainly due to industrial issues, presents a setback, the Commission’s determination to build a resilient, cost-competitive battery ecosystem in Europe remains.
A Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the European Automotive Industry began on 30 January 2025, and an Action Plan to enhance the sector’s global competitiveness was published on 5 March 2025[1].
This includes a ‘Battery Booster’ to support the European value chain, in particular cell production and components through direct funding and non-price criteria for components. EUR 1.8 billion will be allocated over two years from the Innovation Fund to support EU battery manufacturing.
The regulation (EU) 2019/631[2] on CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars and for new light commercial vehicles, as amended in 2023 by Regulation (EU) 2023/851[3], provides a framework for transitioning to zero-emission vehicles, aligning with the EU’s goal to be climate-neutral by 2050[4].
Based on Article 14a and 15 of that regulation, the Commission is preparing a report on progress towards zero-emission mobility and is reviewing the impact and effectiveness of the regulation also taking into account all the technological developments .
The Industrial Action Plan for the automotive sector[5] calls for an acceleration of the work on this review which will be based on a fact-based analysis of technological developments.
- [1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_25_636.
- [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32019R0631.
- [3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32023R0851.
- [4] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32021R1119.
- [5] https://transport.ec.europa.eu/document/download/89b3143e-09b6-4ae6-a826-932b90ed0816_en?filename=Communication%20-%20Action%20Plan.pdf.