Battery sector | Investments of 2 to 3 billion, estimates FiBattery sector | Investments of 2 to 3 billion, estimates Fitzgibbon
(Quebec) The “battery sector” foamed in the inaugural speech of Prime Minister Franois Legault on Tuesday is a business of at least 2 to 3 billion.
Posted on October 20, 2021 at 3:59 p.m.
Patrice Bergeron
The Canadian Press
But it is not yet certain that Quebec will be able to carry out “the entire chain” of battery production.
The Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, confirmed on Wednesday that public funds will have to be invested to support private investors.
On Tuesday, Mr. Legault announced in the House that he wanted to create a “world pole for the entire battery industry” in Quebec: that means setting up an industry that goes from the extraction of minerals to the assembly of batteries, which will be used for all ranges of electric vehicles.
In the press scrum Wednesday, Mr. Fitzgibbon hinted that as far as lithium is concerned, investments would amount to 1.5 billion; in the field of graphite, they would be about 1 billion or a little less; and finally there is nickel.
“These are probably projects of 2 or 3 billion”, he summarized.
The Quebec government does not yet have the assurance that it will be able to put everything in place to have a complete network.
“Ideally, we do the entire chain, but even if we do not make it to the end, there are billions of projects in there,” pleaded Mr. Fitzgibbon.
He is focusing in particular on the conversion of ore in Quebec: “for once, we are going to take the ores and we are going to convert them into added value. ”
The Minister mentioned the many components that could be manufactured here: anodes, cathodes, cells, and finally the assembly of the batteries.
He recalled that the Lion Electric Company has already announced that it will assemble batteries in Quebec.