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Northvolt Ett head replaced by North America executive

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Swedish plant has struggled to ramp up production

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Company recently cancelled major expansion plan

(Adds background on Northvolt batteries, Duchesne in paragraphs

3-4 and 6)

By Marie Mannes

STOCKHOLM, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Swedish battery maker

Northvolt said on Wednesday the head of its main plant would

step down with immediate effect in the latest reorganisation of

the cash-strapped group as it seeks to overcome persistent

production problems.

Mark Duchesne, the head of the Northvolt Ett plant since

mid-2023, will be replaced on an interim basis by Angeline

Bilodeau, the vice president of Northvolt's operations in North

America, the company said.

Northvolt's Swedish gigafactory, built to serve the European

auto industry's transition to electric vehicles, has said the

ramp-up of its battery production had progressed more slowly

than planned, and that it would seek to speed this up.

Duchesne, who had previously worked at Tesla and Chinese EV

startup Byton as well as U.S. startup Nikola Motor Co., in June

told Swedish business daily Dagens Industri that the last three

months had amounted to the "worst quarter of (his) career".

Northvolt announced in September it would slim down and cut

jobs, sparking fears that Europe's best shot at a home-grown

electric vehicle battery champion would stall due to production

problems, sluggish demand and competition from China.

The Northvolt Ett plant was built for an annual battery

making capacity of 16 gigawatt-hours (GWh), but was producing in

mid-September at an annual rate of less than 1 GWh, the company

said at the time.

The output consisted in the middle of last month of some

60,000 battery cells per week with a plan to reach 100,000 cells

weekly by the end of the year, Northvolt said at the time.

On Tuesday a Northvolt Ett subsidiary filed for bankruptcy

after the factory expansion it was developing was cancelled,

court filings showed, in a further sign of the group's deepening

problems.

The company has said it continues to seek a cash infusion

from investors and lenders.