The German multinational BASF will establish a factory to manufacture and recycle batteries for electric vehicles in Bécancour, in the Centre-du-Québec region.
The company announced Friday that it had found land in Bécancour to establish its factory there.
“The acquisition of this land is necessary to advance our strategy to expand our footprint in key regions to better serve our customers,” said Peter Schuhmacher, President of the Catalysts Division.
The project is to be completed by 2025 and is subject to obtaining regulatory approvals. The plant will be able to reach a production capacity of 100,000 tons of battery cathode materials per year.
BASF considers the Bécancour location to be “ideal”. “The new site offers the conditions for highly efficient logistics and will be able to rely on the competitive price of hydroelectricity, which will reduce its environmental footprint compared to comparable companies. »
The announcement marks an important milestone in the development of the battery industry, said Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon. “It’s a new chapter towards a sector that will eventually transform our minerals to the battery,” he said on Twitter. This is an ambitious project that will mark the economy of Quebec for decades to come. »
Industrial giant BASF employs nearly 111,000 people worldwide. The company achieved sales of nearly 78.6 billion euros in 2021, the equivalent of nearly $110 billion.
In October, the Prime Minister, François Legault, had declared that the projects, in the sector of the battery, were evaluated between 2 and 3 billion dollars.
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