By 2025, Windsor will be home to a new $5 billion electric-vehicle (EV) battery plant, thanks partly to a lofty yet-to-be-disclosed grant from the provincial and federal governments.
South Korea-based LG Energy Solution and European-American automaker Stellantis are building the plant, which is expected to employ around 2,500 people.
The federal and provincial governments did not say how much they would be investing into the plant "because it would compromise some negotiations," but Premier Doug Ford said it would be "hundreds of millions" of dollars and equate to “the largest automotive manufacturing investment in the history of the province and ... probably in the history of our country as well.”
Joined by Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli, federal Ministers François-Philippe Champagne and Omar Alghabra, and Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, Ford claimed to locals, politicians and company executives in attendance that Ontario’s “once vibrant auto industry was on the ropes” when he was first elected.
“We’re investing in making Ontario the best jurisdiction in North America to build the vehicles and batteries of the future,” Ford said.
“As the premier said, we are the only jurisdiction which offers the proximity to the resources, the market and the assembly line, so that makes Canada the ideal place (for the plant),” Champagne added. “More than ever, we are integrating Canada into the North American supply chain for the future.”
The announcement follows a series of plans released by Ford for everything from mining to battery production, meant to strengthen the production and sales of EVs in Ontario. Ford released Phase 2 of the <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2021/11/17/ontario-announces-strategy-to-attract-electric-vehicle-investment/">Driving Prosperity plan in November</a> which focused on manufacturing 400,000 EVs in Ontario by the end of the decade and establishing a battery supply chain centred around two to three plants in Ontario by 2030.
The premier also tied Wednesday's announcement to the province’s <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/03/17/ford-releases-pcs-plan-to-grow-mining-sector-post-election/">newly released five-year mining plan</a> to extract minerals from the Ring of Fire region. Ford, Fedeli and Champagne also announced <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/03/16/ontario-and-ottawa-each-giving-honda-132m-to-make-hybrids/">last week</a> a split $236.2 million grant to Honda's Alliston plant to pivot its production to hybrid vehicles.
The slew of pro-EV announcements in the past few months has been a marked shift for Ford from his position at the beginning of his term.
Right after Ford’s election in 2018, he cancelled the province’s Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Incentive Program, which his predecessor Kathleen Wynne implemented. Ford said it only benefited Tesla-buying millionaires. After that, <a href="https://electricautonomy.ca/2022/02/15/ihs-markit-zev-adoption-canada-2021/#:~:text=IHS%20Markit%202021%20year-end,sales%20incentives%20led%20the%20way.">a market report</a> from the analytics firm IHS Markit in 2021 showed electric vehicle registrations in Ontario lagged behind provinces with their own EV rebate programs, like B.C. and Quebec.
Since then, the government has created mining and supply chain plans, as well as the creation of Ivy Charging Network – a collaboration between Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One for the development of a fast-charger system across the province — to encourage EV production.
When asked at the Honda Alliston plant announcement last week whether he would bring the rebate back, Ford said, "since we've been in office, electric vehicles have tripled in sales, so I guess (removing rebates) was a good decision."
As of February, according to the province, there were 72,274 EVs registered in Ontario. In comparison to other provinces in the third quarter of 2021, Ontario had only half the quarterly new zero-emission vehicle registrations of Quebec.
Opposition leaders had little praise for Ford’s move and pushed for more incentives for purchasing EVs.
John Fraser, house leader for the Liberals, lambasted Ford’s about-face on EVs as an election stunt when talking to reporters on Wednesday.
“Remember this government came in and they took all of that down, even took out the charging stations. They ended the rebate. They spent hundreds of millions of dollars on getting rid of green energy. And now, because they're a couple of months away from the election, they had this epiphany that, all of a sudden Doug Ford thinks it's easy being green. It’s not, it takes a lot of work.”
NDP Deputy Leader Sara Singh took a softer approach, and said the announcement was “welcome news” that the NDP had been “fighting for.”
Singh added the caveat, “there was no announcement about a rebate or incentives for drivers to purchase those vehicles. We want to make sure the workers in those plants can actually afford the vehicles that are going to be manufacturing.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner stated his concerns about competing with the U.S. on EV development.
“Ontario is playing catch up because the U.S. has been so much more aggressive in supporting electric vehicles than Ontario,” said Schreiner.
“But we've had a premier, up until the last few months, that has been actively hostile to electric vehicles. We need a government that's going to make electric vehicles affordable for the average Ontarian and will develop a mining and manufacturing EV supply chain.”

Province and feds herald $5 billion EV battery plant in Windsor

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