Investments linked to EV battery plant could be made in early 2023 says Windsors mayor
Windsor's mayor believes we could see some decisions early in the new year on potential investments linked to the supply chain for the new electric vehicle battery plant.
Drew Dilkens and officials from Invest WindsorEssex have returned from a five-day trip to South Korea where they met with over 80 companies about investment opportunities in Windsor to support the NextStar Energy plant, a nearly $5-billion facility.
Dilkens says some of the companies they spoke with have existing relationships with LG Energy, but he notes that there are several LG Energy Solution joint ventures locating within 200-kilometers of this area, including a $1.7-billion facility in Holland, Michigan.
Dilkens says there are huge opportunities for companies to provide supplies to LG Energy Solutions and he wants to make sure Windsor gets as many of them as possible because everything is happening very quickly.
"We had questions, very detailed questions on land locations, on lease rates, access to highways and access to the United States. Lots of conversation on the new border crossing, the new bridge crossing and where that links up on the U.S. side, all the way down to specific immigration questions related to specific situations," he says.
Stellantis and LG Energy Solution are behind the joint venture to build Canada's first large-scale lithium-ion battery production plant on over 200-acres of land on Twin Oaks Drive near Banwell Road in Windsor.
The manufacturing facility will create an estimated 2,500 direct new jobs and is expected to be operational in 2025.
Dilkens says some companies involved in the supply chain are hoping to make decisions next month.
"They hope to have things finalized, at least in their own minds, in terms of location, in terms of lease rates. They want to make a decision at a high level next month and then start sorting through the details. So that's how fast this is moving," he says.
The future site of an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in Windsor, Ont. Stellantis and LG Energy Solution made the announcement alongside government officials on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (Rich Garton/CTV Windsor)
Dilkens says these opportunities in front of us are once-in-a-lifetime as this electric vehicle revolution takes place over coming years.
"We can't just sit back and hope we get our fare share, someone has to be out pounding the pavement, getting in front of the decision makers, making the business case, negotiating and then landing and sealing the deal. That was what this trip was all about, to create some of those relationship that will pay dividends for the City of Windsor and I'm quite confident we did that," he adds.
In June of 2022, Dongshin Motech signed a lease agreement with the City of Windsor for a 12-acre piece of land off Wheelton Drive near Windsor Airport to build a 170,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.
The $60-million investment, which will create 300 new jobs, will see the plant manufacture battery casings for the lithium-ion batteries to be produced at the battery plant.
The company is aiming to finish constructing the Windsor factory by September of 2023 with a goal of supplying battery cell casings to NextStar Energy by May or June of 2024.