Northvolt announces 1,600 layoffs in Sweden, insists Quebec EV battery plant won’t be affected [Video]

Electric vehicle battery manufacturer Northvolt says construction of a $7-billion plant on Montreal’s South Shore will proceed as planned, despite announcing on Monday its intention to lay off 1,600 employees in Sweden.

The Swedish multinational said it plans to cut 1,000 jobs in Skellefteå, 400 in Västerås and 200 in Stockholm — about a fifth of its global workforce — in response to “headwinds” in the automotive market “and wider industrial climate.” It said the layoffs will be negotiated with the relevant unions.

Northvolt said Monday the layoffs will have no bearing on Quebec, where excavation for the first building of the 170-hectare mega-factory is 60 per cent complete.

But opposition politicians in the province are raising concerns about the future of the project and questioning what this means for the governing Coaltion Avenir Québec’s massive investment in Northvolt. 

In an interview, the Official Opposition’s economy critic, Liberal MNA Frédéric …