Lyten Plans Major Hiring at Swedish Battery Plant

Sweden's battery manufacturing sector is charging back to life as American company Lyten prepares for a massive hiring push at the Skellefteå battery plant.

The lithium-sulfur battery manufacturer completed its acquisition of Northvolt's remaining Swedish and German assets in August 2025, including the flagship Northvolt Ett facility in Skellefteå and Northvolt Labs in Västerås. Regulatory approval from Sweden's ISP came through as planned, with operations expected to restart by the end of October.

CEO Dan Cook told reporters the workforce will "scale up to thousands" as Lyten resumes battery production at facilities that were churning out 60,000 cells per week before Northvolt's bankruptcy.

Former Workers Get First Dibs

Here's the critical detail for the 1,100 workers who lost their jobs when Northvolt went bankrupt: Swedish employment law gives you priority.

Under Sweden's Employment Protection Act (LAS), former Northvolt employees who worked at least 12 months during a 36-month period have the legal right to be offered positions first, even though a new company has taken over after bankruptcy.

"The right of priority for re-employment is regulated in the Employment Protection Act," explained Ellinor Gudmundsson, union lawyer for IF Metall. Workers must notify the employer they wish to exercise this right, typically done when receiving termination notice.

Union representative Åsa Etelämäki from IF Metall's Skellefteå office welcomed the news and expressed hope that many former workers would return. "Hopefully everyone who wants to and can will have the chance to return," she said.

This priority rehiring requirement applies regardless of whether Lyten begins hiring before or after officially taking over the facilities. Former employees are legally first in line.

Management Continuity Strategy

Lyten is betting on proven leadership to resurrect the operation. The company appointed Matthias Arleth, a former Northvolt executive, as CEO for Sweden. Markus Dangelmaier, another Northvolt veteran, will continue as CEO of the Skellefteå battery factory.

CEO Dan Cook highlighted Arleth as a key figure behind Northvolt's production successes at the August press conference announcing the acquisition. "Northvolt had proven its ability to produce," Cook said, noting he was especially impressed that production capacity remained stable and even increased during spring and summer when bankruptcy administrators were running the factory.

The strategic choice to retain Northvolt leadership reflects Lyten's belief that the operation had fundamental strengths worth building on. In September 2024, Northvolt set a production record in Skellefteå with 60,000 battery cells in a single week. By February 2025, the facility had produced one million total battery cells.

"During the final months, we worked according to the principle of promising little and delivering a lot – that is the way forward," Arleth told reporters. "We succeeded during the final year. We have shown that we were able to produce high-quality cells with significantly fewer people, in a more cost-efficient way, and still increase the number of cells produced."

The Talent Challenge

While regulatory approvals are in place and leadership is confirmed, concerns about workforce availability remain.

Camilla Frankelius, head of negotiations at Sveriges Ingenjörer (Sweden's Engineers), warned that finding required engineering talent could prove difficult. "Some have already found new jobs or returned to their home countries if their work permits were not renewed," she noted. "The lack of engineering expertise could complicate the start-up of operations."

This creates a race against time. The longer Lyten waits to restart operations and begin hiring, the more former Northvolt workers will have moved on to other opportunities or left Sweden entirely.

Lorents Burman, mayor of Skellefteå, acknowledged the challenge. "The supply of skills is the big challenge for the operation to function," he said, while noting the battery factory's importance extends beyond local economics. "It's not only important for Skellefteå, but also for Sweden and Europe."

What Lyten Is Building

The acquisition gives Lyten 16 gigawatt hours of production capacity with an additional 15 GWh under construction. The company values the acquired assets at approximately 5 billion dollars.

Lyten specializes in lithium-sulfur batteries, an experimental technology gaining traction in military drones, AI data centers, energy storage systems, and robotics. The company has shifted focus away from electric vehicles toward these specialized applications.

In Germany, Lyten is working with authorities to continue building the Northvolt Drei facility in Heide, with plans for up to 1,000 jobs and 15 GWh of initial capacity. The company previously acquired Northvolt facilities in Poland and California as part of its expansion strategy.

The company has received more than 625 million dollars in equity investment and secured letters of intent for 650 million dollars in financing from the US Export-Import Bank.

The Swedish Labor Model

Union representatives stressed the importance of Lyten adopting Swedish collective bargaining agreements as it ramps up operations.

"I hope the new owner understands how important it is to have a collective agreement," Etelämäki said. "Both for the company's competitiveness and for the employees, but also to be able to collaborate with other local companies. This is the model we have in Sweden, and it's something we must protect."

The Swedish technology collective agreement provides a framework for working conditions, wages, and labor relations that has proven successful in attracting and retaining talent in the competitive tech sector.

For the 1,100 job seekers in Skellefteå affected by Northvolt's bankruptcy, Lyten's employment push represents a second chance. The question now is how quickly the company can restart operations and how many former workers will be available when hiring begins in earnest.

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