Ford and Partners to Build $900M Battery Materials Plant in Canada

A consortium of Ford Motor Co and South Korean companies said it will build an $887 million plant to produce materials for electric vehicle batteries in Becancourt, Quebec. Industry Canada said the city is aiming to become the center of the electric vehicle supply chain.

The consortium includes South Korean partners EcoProBM and SK On Co Ltd, according to a ministry statement.

Ford, in a separate statement, described the materials as high-quality nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) for battery packs, which are aimed at improving performance and extending electric vehicle range.

“This cathode plant will supply the material that will be used in future Ford electric vehicles in North America, specifically in some of our future trucks,” Lisa Drake, Ford's vice president of electric vehicles, told reporters.

This is Ford's first investment in Quebec, although the company has been operating in neighboring Ontario for more than a century.

This is the latest in a series of construction announcements in Becancourt, a city of less than 15,000 people on the St. Lawrence River that is poised to become the center of the North American electric vehicle supply chain.

Home to a large mining sector including lithium, nickel and cobalt, Canada is trying to attract companies at all levels of the electric vehicle supply chain through a multi-billion dollar clean technology fund as the world seeks to cut carbon emissions.