EV NEWS: Volkswagen to build EV battery plant in Ontario

[rperez817]

Location is in Southwestern Ontario, not too far from where Ford used to operate a vehicle assembly plant. Volkswagen to build EV battery plant in Ontario | Globalnews.ca

 

Volkswagen has announced it plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant in St. Thomas, in southwestern Ontario.

The European automaker says the Volkswagen Group and its battery company PowerCo will establish its first overseas “gigafactory” for battery cell manufacturing, with the start of production planned for 2027.

The company signed an agreement last year with the federal government to work to identify suitable sites for such a facility in Canada, and they had also committed to investigate ways for Canada to contribute to Volkswagen’s battery supply chains, including raw materials and assembly.

[AGR]

Hmmm, St Thomas. I wonder how far this will be from the old Ford assembly plant. That site is now the home of an Amazon fulfillment center, according to Wikipedia.

According to the Wiki article on the town of St Thomas, a Sterling Truck assembly was also located in the area. Does anyone know if that was a Ford factory that was sold to Daimler, or was it already a Daimler/Freightliner facility?

Edited March 14, 2023 by AGR

[rperez817]

1 hour ago, AGR said:

Does anyone know if that was a Ford factory that was sold to Daimler, or was it already a Daimler/Freightliner facility?

 

That plant was a Daimler facility from inception. It opened in 1991 to assemble Freightliner brand trucks, replacing an older plant in Burnaby BC that was constructed 30 years earlier. Sterling Trucks production at the St. Thomas Daimler plant commenced in February 1998. The plant closed about 11 years later.