Stockholm (AFP) – Swedish electric car battery maker Northvolt has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden, dealing a blow to European efforts to challenge Asia’s dominance in the key sector.

Founded in 2016, Northvolt has struggled under a mountain of debt, slow demand and production delays.

The company had filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States in November to buy time to find new investors, but its efforts ultimately failed, leaving its 5,000 employees with an uncertain future.

Northvolt said in a statement Wednesday that despite pursuing “all available options to negotiate and implement a financial restructuring … the company was unable to secure the necessary financial conditions to continue in its current form”.

“Clearly, this is not an outcome we had hoped for,” Northvolt interim chairman Tom Johnstone told a press conference.

The battery maker said in its US Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings that it owed $5.8 billion.

“With limited time and financial resources available, the company was unable to conclude the necessary agreements to secure its future,” Northvolt said.

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