Europe’s attempt at building a battery manufacturing powerhouse announced that it had halted work on a factory expansion and laid off about 20% of its employees.

Sweden’s Northvolt is scaling back plans after years of rapid expansion and will enact major job cuts. Here’s what’s going on.

Northvolt plans to cut 1,600 jobs at its base in Sweden, or about a fifth of its global workforce, as Europe's biggest hope in the electric vehicle battery market struggles with production problems, sluggish demand and competition from China.