Dong-Myung Kim, president and head of the Advanced Automotive Battery Division of LG Energy Solution, called it “a good day not only for our joint venture but also for Canada.”
“We are happy to finally move forward with building the country’s first major battery plant and become a central part of the local battery ecosystem,” Kim said in the same statement. “We are grateful to the federal and provincial governments for working together, and to everyone who worked tirelessly to get this deal done.”
Danies Lee, CEO of NextStar Energy, said the company “can now focus on what we do best.”
“We will soon produce state-of-the-art batteries here in Windsor, and we’re excited to grow and thrive with the community,” he said.
Effective immediately, all construction at the NextStar Energy battery plant in Windsor will resume with production operations planned to launch in 2024. The plant aims to have an annual production capacity in excess of 45 gigawatt hours (GWh) and will create an estimated 2,500 new jobs in Windsor and the surrounding areas.
‘HIGH STAKES’
NextStar Energy is one of eight battery plants that LGES has secured in North America in response to its growing EV market.
Unifor, the union that represents thousands of unionized Stellantis workers across Ontario and plans to do the same at the battery plant called the standoff “high stakes.”
“We knew these commitments had to be kept because the alternative would have been unthinkable for so many workers,” Payne said in a separate statement. “I know what resonated with all parties was the persistent message from our union that thousands upon thousands of workers’ livelihoods were hanging in the balance throughout this dispute.”
The lithium-ion battery plant was first announced in March 2022.
The Stellantis plant is to have an annual production capacity of 45 gigawatt hours, which could make enough batteries for more than 400,000 vehicles a year, with the first production happening as early as 2024.