Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, has announced investments of up to $70 million towards Quebec’s EV battery supply chain.
The funding, which comes from the Strategic Response Fund, will support Volta Energy Solutions Canada (VESC) in establishing a copper foil facility in Granby.
The press release says that the investment in VESC’s $760.9 million project will allow the company to upgrade and expand an already-purchased facility to manufacture copper foil used in EVs and energy storage systems.
Ottawa’s investment will support the creation of 260 new jobs, and the facility will have an anticipated production capacity of 25,000 tonnes of copper starting in 2027, with plans to ramp up to 63,000 tonnes.
Interestingly, the government also noted in the press release that more than 90 per cent of Canadian-made vehicles and 60 per cent of Canadian-made auto parts are exported to the U.S.
The press release cited the main reason for the investment as the country “positioning itself as a global leader by investing strategically in our electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing capacity and critical mineral battery supply chains across the country.”
This comes after Prime Minister Mark Carney struck a deal to allow some Chinese EVs to come into the country- which ironically has been mostly dominated by Tesla vehicles.
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Source: Government of Canada
