Since northvolt is private, there is a lot less insight into what goes on there. However, I'm fairly sure that the CEO did sell some of his shares during one or more financing rounds, in order to create a little nest egg for himself.
On top of that I'd imagine that during the 8 years or so, he probably took out at least 200k EUR in salary, if not more, per year. So a few millions of dollars probably went to the CEO.
It's unclear if the employees receiving that are actually top management, but honestly, I would be surprised if they're not, as they are the ones who always get this sort of bonuses.
EDIT 2: you don't need to speak Swedish to understand what North Volt itself wrote is about a bonus program, so yes, it most definitely is a bonus: "bonusprogrammet är avgörande för att upprätthålla arbetsmoral, motivation och lojalitet"
I live in Sweden. Can you share a link? I bet that what you have in mind is the bonus that could be paid to about 230 employees, explicitly excluding the top management, in order to retain them. Or perhaps the news that the former CEO has sold some shares during a founding round, which is a relatively standard practice and not a “bonus”, and a way to keep the CEO salary reasonably low.
Edit (following your edit): You wrote earlier: “including paying millions of dollars in bonus to their incompetent executives”. The link you shared directly contradicts this since it mentions the equivalent of 6M USD distributed to about 230 employees. Another article mentions very explicitly that top management is excluded. According to these articles, it is simply impossible to conclude that top executives will receive “millions of dollars”. You’re just contributing to rumors that are not based on facts.
In my view, you're the one spreading lies here.
I haven't seen anywhere that top management is excluded. Please link to sources if you have reliable ones.
About the bonus being spread over 230 employees: no one can know how much will go to each employee. From my experience with shenanigans like this, usually two guys will each get 40% of the whole bonus, and the other 228 will get the remaining 20%. Do you have actual data on that or you're just interpreting this in the most charitable possible way you can???
On top of that I'd imagine that during the 8 years or so, he probably took out at least 200k EUR in salary, if not more, per year. So a few millions of dollars probably went to the CEO.