Cooperation with South Korean battery component manufacturing companies SK On Co. and EcoPro BM Co. announced Ford Motor Co., which will build a more than $1.2 billion active cathode materials plant in Quebec.
The Government of Canada and the Province of Quebec are providing $644 million in loans for the Becancour facility, which will create at least 345 jobs and serve Ford plants in Canada and the US.
The project announced Thursday is the corporate giant’s latest investment in the small community northeast of Montreal, which aims to become a critical hub for North America’s electric vehicle supply chain.
Becancour is emerging as a “strategic location” for batteries, and the Ford plant will help solidify the EV ecosystem built in Quebec and Ontario, according to Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
The EcoPro CAM Canada facility is expected to begin operations in the first half of 2026 and produce an average of 45,000 metric tons of active cathode materials each year.
The method of financing
The public financing is broken down into a conditional loan of $322 million from the Canadian government and a loan for the same amount from Quebec. It was first revealed last fall that Ford and Korean companies were discussing building the plant in the French-speaking province. The companies had earlier agreed to invest in a North American manufacturing facility that would supply batteries for a joint venture between SK On and Ford in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Ford’s announcement follows news in May that General Motors Co. and Posco Future M Co. secured half of the financing for a $600 million battery plant in Becancour. Germany’s BASF SE and Brazil’s Vale SA have also committed to invest in the region.
It is worth noting that Canada has enthusiastically supported the effort to “erode” China’s dominance in the manufacture of electric vehicles.
