Stellantis NV’s European electric-vehicle battery manufacturing joint venture with the Mercedes-Benz Group and a French energy company earlier this year lobbied Canadian officials for incentives for a battery plant.
Representatives for Automotive Cells Co. — the collaboration between the maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and other vehicles; the German automaker; and TotalEnergies SE — met with officials in May from the federal government, the province of Quebec and the city of Mirabel just outside Montreal, according to government lobby registries.
The lobbying efforts were concerning direct funding, incentives and grants related to site selection, development and construction of a new battery processing facility in Quebec, according to the public disclosures, which state the the talks have ended as of June 6.
Reuters first reported the lobbying efforts, citing a statement from an ACC spokesperson that the manufacturer is in early talks with officials from both the United States and Canada.
Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said in an email that the automaker doesn’t have more to share beyond the three North American battery plants it has already announced. The Detroit News also sent a request for more information on the lobbying efforts to a representative for ACC on Wednesday afternoon.
The talks were registered between May 19 and June 6. The starting date was days after construction halted for seven weeks on the module production building at the battery manufacturing plant in Windsor, Ontario, being built by NextStar Energy, Stellantis’ joint venture with Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution.
The dispute over the amount of incentives the Canadian government would provide the project ended in early July. Canada with the province of Ontario ultimately agreed to provide $11 billion in subsidies to match what the United States is offering battery manufacturers under the legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act. NextStart’s CEO announced this week that the plant is hiring its launch team for production to begin in early 2024.
Mark Stewart, Stellantis’ chief operating officer in North America, said in October that Stellantis could need as many as four battery plants in North America by 2030 to achieve its goal of having at least half of its U.S. passenger car and light-duty pickup sales be all-electric. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares previously suggested ACC could expand to North America.
A plant from ACC would be Stellantis’ fourth in North America. Last week, Stellantis’ joint venture with Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI, StarPlus Energy, announced plans for a second plant in the United States to open in 2027. A location is under review, according to the companies. StarPlus is building a battery plant in Kokomo, Indiana, that is scheduled to open in 2025.
ACC so far has announced three battery plants. In May, it inaugurated its 40 gigawatt-hour plant in France’s Billy-Berclau Douvrin. It also is building gigafactories in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and Termoli, Italy.
bnoble@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @BreanaCNoble