The Volkswagen Group's PowerCo SE battery subsidiary announced it is building a battery factory in St. Thomas, Ontario. With an expected annual production capacity of 90 gigawatt-hours, it will be PowerCo SE's largest factory, creating upwards of 3,000 highly skilled manufacturing jobs for the region. Groundbreaking is expected to occur in 2024, with production beginning in 2027.
The manufacturing plant is part of a larger plan between Volkswagen, PowerCo, and Canada to expand BEV production in North America. Last August, both companies entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Canadian government to focus on value creation and raw material security to promote electric mobility in the country. For Volkswagen, it's part of a growth strategy that includes a broad portfolio of BEVs by 2030 and the expansion of Electrify America's coast-to-coast charging network in the US.
