Northvolt and Scania unveil battery for heavy trucks

[1/2]The logo of Swedish truck maker Scania is pictured at the IAA truck show in Hanover, September 22, 2016. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer Acquire Licensing Rights

STOCKHOLM, April 18(Reuters) - Truck-maker Scania and battery producer Northvolt on Tuesday said they had developed an electric battery with a lifetime equivalent to that of a truck.

The Swedish companies said the lithium-ion cell in tests had demonstrated a lifetime capacity to power trucks for 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) – the same as a Scania truck's expected duration.

"The future of heavy transport is electric, and to enable the shift and to continue delivering on our brand promise towards customers to be premium, Scania needs top-performing battery cells for our electric trucks," Scania CEO Christian Levin said in a statement.

The battery cells are being produced at the Northvolt Ett gigafactory in northern and the estimated carbon footprint of the cell at full serial production is approximately one third that of a comparative industry reference, the companies said.

Reporting by Johan Ahlander, editing by Terje Solsvik

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