BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen is targeting 90 gigawatt-hours of capacity at its planned battery factory in Ontario, Canada, the carmaker said on Friday, its largest planned battery plant to date.
The carmaker is investing up to C$7 billion ($5.17 billion) in the plant, a statement said.
Canada has agreed to provide up to C$13 billion in subsidies and a C$700 million grant to be disbursed over a decade, a government source told Reuters.
“When we talk about our made-in-Canada plan, we’re talking about creating good, middle-class jobs now and into the future… that’s what Volkswagen’s new electric vehicle battery plant in St. Thomas – the largest manufacturing plant in the country once built – is all about,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the statement.
The plant will cover most of the battery capacity it needs in North America, which battery chief Thomas Schmall said in March was between 60-100 gigawatt hours.
($1 = 1.3528 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Madeline Chambers)
