Canada wants in on the electric vehicle movement. And they’re willing to spend big to make it happen.
What’s happening:
- The Canadian government has committed $28 billion in new subsidies to incentivize the construction of new electric vehicle facilities
- The subsidies will go towards supporting select companies in building electric vehicle production facilities and accelerating Canadian based manufacturing of lithium batteries
Why it matters:
- The adoption of electric vehicles is growing at a staggering pace, especially in the United States since the announcement of The Inflation Reduction Act
- Canada clearly doesn’t want to get left behind in having their own infrastructure for an electric future as there is enormous potential to create jobs and generate tax revenue
- Canada currently is lagging far behind the United States in terms of infrastructure to support the transition to electric vehicles
Who is making moves:
- Swedish based battery manufacturer Northvolt will be building a state of the art facility that is 170 hectares in Quebec
- That facility aims to be able to manufacture enough batteries to supply one million new electric vehicles each year
- This will be Northvolt’s first ever factory outside of Europe and aims to take advantage of the ample renewable energy Quebec has to offer
Going deeper:
- While Canada has long been regarded as a leading country for mining companies the vast majority of those projects have historically been focused on gold, silver and precious metals
- Last year the Canadian government made their first big bet on accelerating lithium mining in Canada with a $27M investment into E3 Lithium (TSXV: ETL)
- The investment came through Canada’s Net Zero Accelerator Initiative and went towards building out a lithium production plant based in Alberta that can produce battery grade lithium
