Volkswagen will open an electric vehicle battery plant in Canada

Volkswagen

Volkswagen announces that its PowerCo subsidiary will build an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in St. Thomas, Ontario.

This is the European manufacturer's first North American battery plant.

The opening of this plant, located southeast of London, scheduled for 2027, will allow Volkswagen to have access to American subsidies which require that batteries electric vehicles are made with North American materials.

The announcement comes six months after the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Canada for access to essential raw materials for the manufacture of batteries. The German manufacturer had undertaken under this agreement to build its plant on Canadian soil.

This will be the first battery manufacturing plant in North America for the German manufacturer . Volkswagen and its battery company PowerCo will build what they call a giga-factory.

This construction is made possible following the passage of a law by the province modifying the municipal limits of a 1500 acre mega-site in southwestern Ontario.

In a joint statement, François-Philippe Champagne, Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and Vic Fedeli, Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Jobs and Trade, welcomed the news as an important vote of confidence in Canada and Ontario and in our joint efforts to make the country and the province global leaders in the supply chain. supply of electric vehicles.

Further in the press release, the two ministers ensure that this investment is an important step as we build a clean transport sector to meet the demand north -American and global in zero-emission vehicles.

The Volkswagen plant will be added to that of the conglomerate LG Energy Solution and Stellantis, which is due to open in Windsor from & #x27;here 2025.

With information from Reuters, and Presse cana dienne