Swedish truckmaker Scania is in talks with battery cell makers about potentially supplying its future electric fleet but remains committed to its current partner, beleaguered Swedish firm Northvolt, its CEO told Reuters in an interview.
Scania, which is part of the Volkswagen-owned (VOWG_p.DE) Traton Group (8TRA.DE), wants half of its vehicle sales to come from electric trucks by 2030.
However, they currently make up less than 1% of sales, and their rollout has been hampered by production and delivery problems at cash-strapped Northvolt.
"We talk to everyone in order to make sure that we are not going to end up in problems if they (Northvolt) have problems," Christian Levin, CEO of both Traton and Scania, told Reuters in an interview, declining to name the other cell makers.
Levin reiterated the firm's desire to stick with Northvolt, which he said were manufacturing "the only green cell in the industry". "We support them in any way we can," he said.
The company had always planned to engage other suppliers given its anticipated EV ramp up over coming years, he added.
Volkswagen is Northvolt's biggest stakeholder, owning 21% of the company, according to its annual report, but this week the battery marker confirmed that Volkswagen's investment chief was leaving its board. Volkswagen declined to comment on the move.
Northvolt and Volkswagen entered a $14 billion supply agreement in 2021 spanning the next 10 years.
Levin, who was visiting Japan with his executive board as part of an Asia trip that also included China, where the company is building a major new production hub, said the broader challenge facing its green plans is a lack of political support.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, a climate change sceptic, is planning to kill electric vehicle tax credits introduced by his predecessor, sources told Reuters. He may also again withdraw the world's biggest economy and second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases from the Paris climate agreement.
But Levin said Trump was only part of the problem.
"I'm afraid on a global level that I see that this transformation is going too slowly and that policymakers are not supportive enough," he said.
"I'm of course also worried for the company who is investing so much in these technologies, because we really bet the company on this... The world is out of sync. That worries me. So it's not just Trump."
