It will take 11 years to recoup federal and provincial incentives for the Swedish battery startup’s Quebec gigafactory, Friday’s report estimated, compared with the federal government’s nine-year appraisal. The PBO said its evaluation reflects Northvolt’s manufacturing projections and un-announced costs like foregone tax revenues. (The Logic)

Talking point: The finding builds on previous PBO reports that indicated the country’s battery-sector subsidies will be harder to recoup than politicians let on. Industry minister François-Phillipe Champagne defended the spending Friday, saying the PBO didn’t account for the conditional and repayable portions of the incentives. Meanwhile, industry leaders said the PBO failed to consider investments in the battery supply chain, like critical mineral processing, which the PBO brushed aside because of “the uncertainty related to the future location of the EV supply chain.” Many companies, including Volkswagen, are indeed scaling back their EV battery investment plans in other parts of the world—though that didn’t stop Canada from snagging a new battery-manufacturing investment this week from E-One Moli.