| Thanks for reading Hyperdrive, Bloomberg’s newsletter on the future of the auto world. Ex-Tesla founders. Investments from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Volkswagen. Orders from BMW, Audi, Porsche and Volvo. Northvolt had it all. But if there’s one lesson to take away from the failure of the Swedish cell manufacturer, it’s that blue-chip brands only take you so far in a ruthless industry that’s only getting more brutal. Europe’s best hope for a homegrown battery champion filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, having racked up more than $5.8 billion in debt and burned through all but $30 million of cash. Volkswagen’s truckmaking unit Scania is poised to play a key role in picking up the pieces, at least initially. As Northvolt’s biggest customer, it’s committed $100 million in debtor-in-possession financing. Northvolt’s financial adviser, Scott Millar, does his best to put a positive spin on the company’s plight in the opening lines of its 55-page declaration filing, lauding the startup’s “industry-defining, geopolitically strategic investment in world-class battery manufacturing technology.” But if there’s any one thing that’s going to define the future of the battery industry, it’s not European technology. It’s the fact that China is lapping the rest of the world in actually reaping returns from all of its geopolitically strategic investment in this sector. Chinese companies led by CATL and BYD have stolen a march to such an extent that it’s difficult to envision how new entrants can possibly catch up. The European Union nevertheless still wants to see some of its own companies supplying the bloc’s EV industry. “We are determined to reach a constructive resolution that will safeguard the EIB’s and the EU’s interests,” a European Investment Bank spokesperson said Friday. “We will continue to support strategic industries driving the transition to a net zero economy and homegrown innovation in breakthrough technologies, which is key to Europe’s prosperity, strategic autonomy, industrial excellence, and more sustainable growth.” One person who will play a lesser role in that effort, at least for the time being, will be Peter Carlsson. The Northvolt CEO stepped down on Friday, expressing regret about continuing to grow the company while its initial operations in Sweden were struggling to get cells to customers. Those issues held up Scania’s production of electric trucks, while BMW cancelled a €2 billion order due to quality problems with the batteries Northvolt was shipping. “I should have probably pulled the brake earlier on some of the expansion paths in order to make sure that the core engine was moving according to plan,” Carlsson said. As a result of those fateful decisions, Northvolt’s collapse will reverberate not only at its main plant near the Arctic circle, but also in Poland (home to a battery module and pack assembly), Norway (a recycling facility), Germany and Canada (sites for cell-making.) Northvolt’s crash “should prompt soul-searching,” Bloomberg Opinion’s Chris Bryant writes in his latest column. “Its unravelling shows Europe lacks experience and execution, not capital or ambition. Catching up in the clean tech race may require a little more humility — and outside help.”  A Chevy Bolt electric vehicle charging at a Tesla Supercharger in Scotts Valley, California. Photographer: Philip Pacheco/Bloomberg Tesla invited the rest of the industry to embrace its charging plug and port two years ago this month. After securing a series of commitments since then from rival manufacturers and other charging providers to make the switch, it’s been slow to equip its Supercharger stations with an adapter called Magic Dock that renders them accessible to non-Tesla drivers. The company also has been slow to send out adapters to its competitors, keeping countless EV owners waiting. “Tesla has not kept its promise,” said Conrad Layson, a senior analyst at AutoForecast Solutions. | 
