A new plant intended for the electrification of transport is born in Montreal. The company ProEV inaugurated Thursday what it calls the “largest site” for the production of high-voltage cables for the manufacture of commercial and industrial electric vehicles in North America.
“The cables we produce are used to conduct energy from the battery to the motor and other electrical modules,” explains Jarred Knecht, president of ProEV. “We are a strategic link in the transportation electrification supply chain,” he believes.
The ProEV company – which was founded in Montreal in 1987 by Mr. Knecht’s father and which is today a division of the American company Electrical Components International (ECI) – also has a factory in Pointe-St-Claire. This other plant produces high-voltage cables for the military industry and the medical field.
“We also produced it for electric vehicles in the first factory, but demand exploded so much that we decided to open a second factory and bring it back here,” explains Mr. Knecht.
ProEv’s customers include well-known companies such as Lion Electrique, BRP and Harley Davidson. The company, however, is limited to the commercial, industrial and recreational electric vehicle sectors, which is already a large enough market.
“It’s not our goal to produce cables for car manufacturers. It’s a different segment,” says Knecht.
The new plant located in the borough of Saint-Laurent, in Montreal, can serve between 2,000 and 3,000 electric vehicles per year. “Within 3 to 5 years, we would like this capacity to increase to 40,000 vehicles per year. It’s ambitious, but it can be done,” believes Mr. Knecht.
ProEV has 200 employees in Montreal and aims to recruit 250 more over the next few years.