Canadian companies are cozying up to South Korea, the battery giant.
Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne escorted Canadian battery executives on a trade mission to South Korea last week, brokering meetings between business groups and firms E3 Lithium, cobalt refiner Electra Battery Materials, cathode-material maker Nano One, auto-parts supplier Martinrea International, IP commercialization firm Zentek and Stingray, which offers in-car entertainment.
Recent U.S. EV trade policies that favour North American production have, for now, made Canadian EV manufacturing investments a way for overseas companies to access the larger U.S. auto market. South Korea is among the countries challenging that policy, and hopes to eventually get direct access to the same incentives it can now only get through North American investments.
But with Canada currently at an advantage, executives on the trade mission said they’re hoping Champagne’s diplomacy will help Canadian companies clinch deals.
Nano One CEO Dan Blondal told The Logic that rubbing elbows with South Korean dignitaries and executives helps deepen relationships with firms that he was already in talks with. It also helped him gauge which companies were aligned with Nano One’s goals.
“We’re looking for customers that are looking for technological change, and I think this trip has helped us really refine who [they] are. And thankfully, we’re already talking to some of them. … The Canadian government certainly brings a level of confidence to the table,” he said.
“Some of the companies are just trying to put batteries between wheels today … but there are companies that are also forward-looking at trying to solve some of those environmental problems.”
E3 Lithium CEO Chris Doornbos said his startup needs customers, and right now, that means looking to battery powerhouses like LG.
“They’re the leaders in the space outside China, and so if we’re looking for partners in the battery industry, South Korea’s our best option,” he said.
For Doornbos, the trip was also crucial for building ties within ISED, since Canada’s lithium industry is largely made up of pre-production companies that are much more likely to succeed if the government takes a vested interest. E3 announced this week it would get $27 million from the innovation department’s Net Zero Accelerator.
The investment may quell concerns raised by at least one lithium firm last week that the innovation ministry’s crackdown on Chinese investors would chill liquidity flowing to the sector.
Champagne also met with execs from Hyundai, Samsung, LG and SK ie Technology, an energy and chemical giant which has reportedly been in talks for a Quebec battery material plant with Ford and South Korean-based, cathode-material firm, EcoPro. EcoPro registered a new federal lobbyist in October.
Champagne told reporters in a call last week that he thought companies in Japan and South Korea, as well as Europe, would be viable investors for Canadian firms. “We think that capital will be there. … We’re certainly happy to support these companies to find the right partners to be able to supply the market.”
On Wednesday, Champagne landed in Europe, where he met with EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a meeting he has previously said could touch on harmonizing autonomous-vehicle policies. He will also attend conferences for Mercedes-Benz Group and Volkswagen. The latter automaker has told The Logic that it expects to announce updates to its memorandum of understanding with the Canadian government by the end of the year.
Doornbos acknowledged the need to land some of the many battery plants’ commitments coming from overseas companies. But, he said, he hopes government investments in battery companies ultimately allow Canada to make its own battery materials into products to be sold here, rather than just shipping raw materials overseas.
“With a coast-to-coast battery ecosystem, Canada becomes a big player in the electric revolution that is happening right now across the globe.”
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