Quebec’s Battery Valley gains another producer
Site should supply 225k EVs per year
Ford is building a new plant in Quebec that will help the company get enough batteries to power its upcoming EVs. The plant will open in 2026 and create around 345 new jobs.
The new facility is a joint venture between battery tech company SK On, battery manufacturing company EcoProBM, and Ford. It will be Ford’s first investment in battery production in Quebec, and the company’s first plant in Quebec since the Montreal Assembly Plant closed in 1932. Ford’s investment in the plant is expected to be $1.2B.
Under the name EcoPro CAM Canada, the new facility will manufacture cathode active materials, more precisely nickel cobalt manganese for electric vehicle batteries. Cathode active materials are a key part of the battery mix, the lithium-ion in lithium-ion batteries, for example.
The 280,000 square meter facility will be built in Bécancour, Quebec, across the St Lawrence from Trois-Rivières. The site will have six floors of production and office facilities and will add 345 new jobs including engineers, sales, and service staff. There will also be positions for co-op students from local universities and colleges.
Bécancour, which has a deep water port and rail connection, is also near Quebec’s large deposits of battery metals. The area is quickly becoming Canada’s EV battery hub, and is home to planned facilities from Alcoa, BASF, GM, and others.
Ford says that once the plant opens it will be able to supply up to 45,000 tonnes of cathode active materials per year. That’s enough to supply up to 225,000 vehicles per year.
