Northvolt Collapse Countdown Started With BMW Pullback (Correct)

For Northvolt AB, the Swedish startup that became a poster child for Europe’s electric-driving future, the route to collapse started in June when BMW AG canceled a multi-billion-dollar order.

Back then, few saw the significance of the move, which effectively started a countdown that would culminate in a Chapter 11 filing less than six months later. Northvolt scrambled to keep the financing flowing, but as Germany’s car industry fell deeper into its own crisis, it became clear orders would dry up.

The NorthVolt Labs research and development center in Vasteras, Sweden.

Photographer: Mikael Sjoberg/Bloomberg

The company responded to the lost revenue by retrenching expansion plans and slashing jobs. By the time ...