Quebec resolves to team up with the neighboring province as part of its strategy to create a world battery pole.
“Quebec and Ontario as a team could make a rather formidable tandem,” suggested Hubert Bolduc in a speech delivered at the Quebec mines and energy conference on Tuesday. He chairs Investissement Québec International (IQI), a division of the provincial government’s investor arm responsible for convincing foreign players to set up in Quebec.
According to this sharing, Quebec would be active in the chain of batteries at the stages of the mine until the cell. For its part, Ontario, where the automakers are gathered, would focus on the battery factories as such.
“Ontario is also in the race,” acknowledged the president of IQI. On the other hand, in terms of energy and minerals, it does not have the same advantage as Quebec. In addition to its abundant mineral resources, Quebec has the immense advantage of its affordable hydroelectricity, a carbon-neutral energy sought after by players in the battery sector.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, PRESS ARCHIVES
Hubert Bolduc, President of Investissement Québec International
Last June, the big boss of Investissement Quebec, Guy LeBlanc, told Press plan to invest in the sector from 1 to 2 billion public funds with 4 to 6 billion in private investments by 2023. At that time, IQ targeted all the links: from the mine to the battery. “We hope to be able to make important announcements over the next 6 to 12 months with international expertise in each component of the chain,” said Mr. LeBlanc.
Prime Minister Legault reiterated his goal of creating a global pole for the battery industry in his inaugural speech on October 19.
Quebec is far from being alone in this rush for the battery, however. The United States, as we saw with the case of subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles last week, has the ambition to build a supply chain made in USA.
Recently, the Quebec Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, admitted to The Canadian Press that his government did not have the assurance of being able to put everything in place to have a complete sector.
The neighboring province, the heart of the Canadian auto industry, has no intention of missing its chance. Its premier, Doug Ford, unveiled on November 16 a strategy for electric vehicles that aims for the province to produce 400,000 electric cars and trucks per year by 2030 and attract 2 or 3 battery factories.
We often think that in the battery business everything is going to be done in Ontario, because that’s where the OEMs [original equipment manufacturers, les manufacturiers automobiles] are. May be […], but we must not forget that we have Electric Lion, BRP, Taiga. There are other players who are on the move, like Volvo.
Hubert Bolduc, President of Investissement Québec International
While the challenge of attracting battery factories promises to be perilous, Quebec continues to generate a great deal of interest in the segments of the transformation of metals into chemicals and the manufacture of anodes and cathodes, the two poles of battery.
Five contractors in the field
Quebec is separated from the principals by a distance of 1,200 to 1,800 kilometers. “In general, we have competitive rail access to roughly 65% of North American cell factories, and also 80% in the battery sector,” said Hubert Bolduc.
“There are five major clients who are currently involved in the selection of implantation sites for transformation and cell projects”, underlined Mr. Bolduc in his conference.
Tuesday, Press revealed that Brazilian iron and nickel giant Vale was interested in Quebec’s electric vehicle industry.
Hubert Bolduc gave the example of Sweden, which manages to do well in the sector with the manufacturer NorthVolt, although the country is geographically distant from the French and German automobile manufacturers.