Ontario EV plan aims for more production, battery plants – by Jeff Gray and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 18, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has unveiled an electric vehicle strategy that aims to have the province produce 400,000 electric cars and trucks a year by 2030 and attract two or three battery plants.

The plan, released on Wednesday at a campaign-style event at auto parts maker Linamar in Guelph, Ont., about 100 kilometres west of Toronto, says the province will partner with the industry to prepare it to make the “car of the future” and “establish and support a battery chain ecosystem” using the mineral wealth in Northern Ontario.

It points out that carmakers have already announced billions to build new EVs at Ontario plants. But the strategy doesn’t provide details or outline any significant new government funding, beyond previously announced cash to subsidize research and promote innovation.

And it sparked opposition criticism that Mr. Ford is embracing EV conversion after it not only cancelled a rebate program for EV buyers after his government came to office in 2018, but also sanctioned the removal of charging stations from commuter-rail parking lots and cut a requirement for new homes to have EV rechargers.

For the rest of this article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-ev-plan-aims-for-more-production-battery-plants/