Canadian EV supply Chain Hopefully Exro will be involved
New electric-vehicle group wants to build Canadian supply chain
There’s a new player on Parliament Hill pushing the federal government to meet its goal that all passenger cars and truck emit zero emissions by 2035.
Accelerate consists of 20 organizations involved in all parts of the supply chain to manufacture zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), including research, resources, batteries, the manufacturers themselves, and the union representing many of the workers.
If Canada wants to be a big player in the ZEV market, as it is in the gas-powered-car market, it needs a more comprehensive strategy, better coordination between government and industry, and more “nimble” investments, says Moe Kabbara, Accelerate’s executive director.
“We’re seeing the shift towards ZEVs,” he said. “The future (won’t be based on the) internal combustion engine, and our auto sector will have to evolve or it’ll be gone.”
The group’s goal is to “ensure that we can future-proof the auto industry, and continue to be competitive in this zero-emission-driven automotive sector that’s emerging,” he said, and Canada needs to “grow into new areas that are emerging as part of that supply chain.”
Kabarra was an investment-attraction officer for the auto sector at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada from September 2018 to January 2020.
Accelerate is standing on fertile ground, since the Liberals made significant ZEV-related promises during the election campaign that dovetail with its goals.
One promise was to force manufacturers to ensure at least 50 per cent of vehicles sold in Canada are ZEVs by 2030.
The Liberal platform also promised: billions of dollars for ZEV manufacturing through the Net Zero Accelerator, an “end-to-end, sustainable battery-supply chain”; a “Canada-U.S. Battery Alliance” to integrate the North American supply chain; and other battery-related promises that would help mining companies get the necessary minerals out of the ground and into production.
The group is working to ensure some of those promises are met, at a time when countries around the world are trying to beef up their own ZEV industries.
A provision in the $3.5-trillion budget bill in the U.S. provides tax credits for vehicles containing American-made batteries. Spain recently invested more than $6 billion in its ZEV supply chain. Francespent $11 billion in 2020, and, between 2009 and 2017, China invested $74 billion in its ZEV industry.
Some of the Liberals’ promises were recommended in a report in May by Clean Energy Canada, a think tank at B.C.’s Simon Fraser University and a member of Accelerate.
Battery production is essential to a domestic ZEV market, because they power the car. Most of the world’s batteries are currently made in China, Japan, and South Korea, the report states.
Canada, however, has rich deposits of the minerals needed to make the batteries, such as lithium.
The Department of Natural Resources Canada recently published a list of 31 minerals that are readily available on Canadian territory, and it deems essential to a clean-energy future — and, by extension, to a robust ZEV industry. The Liberal platform promised a bigger tax credit for mining companies that extract minerals on the list.
Natural Resources Canada will also invest in the Canadian mineral industry, and foster intergovernmental co-operation, since resources and energy are a shared jurisdiction.
The next big step is to get Canada and the U.S. to integrate, because “the automotive industry in Canada has really benefited from being part of this highly integrated North American supply chain,” since the 1965 Auto Pact started combining the two countries’ auto industries, Kabbara said.
“As we try to shift, and as the supply chain develops in North America, (it will) be especially important for both countries to leverage the existing integration of their industries (to) help us compete with Europe and Asia,” he said.
The group wants to work with similar organizations in the U.S. to ensure “the North American integrated market is top of mind” for decision-makers, he said.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden first met in February, they agreed to work more closely on extracting minerals and producing batteries.
The Liberal platform tried to solidify that agreement by promising a Canada-U.S. battery alliance to build a “world-scale battery supply chain.”