Achi news desk-
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Honda executives are expected to announce today that the Japanese automaker is building an electric vehicle battery plant in Alliston, Ont., as part of a $15 billion investment.
Senior sources with knowledge of the project have told The Canadian Press that Honda is also retooling its Alliston plant to produce fully electric vehicles.
The $15-billion project includes the replacement plant, an electric vehicle battery factory nearby, as well as two key battery parts facilities elsewhere in Ontario.
There is likely to be some capital investment from at least one level of government, but the sources say the deal does not include production subsidies, which were used to entice two other automakers to build battery factories in Ontario instead of the United States with its incentives under the Anti-Inflation Act.
Instead, the federal government has proposed a 10 percent Electric Vehicle Supply Chain investment tax credit in its recent budget, which Honda could claim on top of the existing 30 percent Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment tax credit.
The Honda facility will be the third electric vehicle battery plant in Ontario, following in the footsteps of Volkswagen in St. Thomas and LG’s Stellantis factory in Windsor.
Honda’s deal also includes two suppliers of key parts for their batteries – cathodes and separators – with the locations of those facilities to be announced at a later date.
The agreement comes after years of meetings and discussions between Honda executives and the Ontario government that began after the last major government announcement at Honda’s Alliston facility.
Trudeau, Ford and Honda executives were on hand in March 2022 when the automaker announced hybrid production at the plant, with $131.6 million in support from each of the two levels of government.
That sparked talks about a possible larger investment in electric vehicles, and talks began that summer, sources said.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on April 25, 2024.
