Unfazed by grumbles about auto companies hauling in billions in green subsidies, Volkswagen Canada CEO Pierre Boutin defended the federal and Ontario governments’ up to $13-billion investment in VW’s new battery factory during an interview at the company’s Ajax, Ont., headquarters. 

Other concerns of the world’s second-biggest automaker are more local in scope. Even as it tries to turn over a new leaf—leaving behind emissions-test cheating scandals to embrace green electric-vehicle-battery technology—some residents of St. Thomas, Ont., are concerned about the impact of the new VW battery plant being built in their backyards. 

Boutin delved into that—and supercomputers and the economy and woodpeckers—in our conversation.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

How are you planning to address local concerns and make sure that the gigafactory fits into the St. Thomas community?

We want to minimize the footprint. Our aim is to be net zero by 2050. Canada, specifically St. Thomas, has some of the key elements driving us to make an investment here: one of the cleanest mining industries in the world, and a growing respect of all the communities, Indigenous communities—Canada is working with them to make sure that it is good for them, good for the environment, good for the local economies.

We’ve been looking for a clean grid. That’s something else that we can find here. 

To your point, we have people preparing the field, looking at all the animals, the birds.

They relocated, basically, part of the tree for a woodpecker, because apparently these woodpeckers make only one home in their life. There’s a lot of care in everything they do. For all the suppliers that are being utilized, we have very, very stringent criteria in terms of ESG.  

Do you agree with the narrative that the world is fighting a green subsidy war? 

There shouldn’t be any wars. It’s about the reduction of the dependence of the world on fossil fuels. We need to build our allies to make this happen ASAP, because there’s a real sense of urgency. 

I talked about environmental sustainability. There’s also social sustainability, and economic sustainability. What’s important is that at the end of all this there’s returns on the investments for the government of Ontario, the federal government, for Volkswagen—for everyone involved. It’s not about who’s going to win and who’s going to lose. It’s about how we can build sustainability that is going to benefit everyone. 

These types of investments are not just for five or 10 years; they are for generations—the creation of well-paid jobs and the different joint ventures that come after that. Our company made an investment in a quantum-computing company, Xanadu, here in Ontario, and it was through discussions related to this project. 

The CEO of a company that runs dealerships, AutoCanada, said recently that it’s a struggle to get EV chargers installed fast enough, and get hookups to the grid. Have you seen similar challenges? 

We’re a major investor in Electrify Canada and Electrify America. We have charging booths planned to bring the total over 100 fast-charging stations, which would be over 500 fast chargers in Canada by 2026. We’re dealing with all of the utilities from coast to coast. 

Yes, it’s true, sometimes it takes a little bit of time and it’s not something that’s going to happen in six to 12 months. At the end of the day, it is going to happen. We need to look at things not just on a short-term basis. If it’s for the better, we need to invest this time; we need to put the effort in. 

Is it perfect? No. But substantial progress is being made and momentum is being built. It’s nothing that we cannot overcome.

What single change could Canadian business and policy leaders make to address things that keep you up at night as a CEO?

We have never been in a better position.

There’s certainly still some progress to be made on charging infrastructure on every level—even consumers doing it in their own house, to restaurants, to retail malls, to highways to gas stations. I would encourage everyone to look at the different policies and different investments they’re making. 

Is there any truth to reports there’s oversupply of EVs, and they’re piling up on dealership lots?

If you look at Canada, we still have a long way to go to see more inventory being available for consumers. We’re going to get there, as an industry, probably over the next year or so. 

I’m not concerned at all about customers’ interest in EVs. There’s still a lot of awareness we need to build, to prove to Canadians that an electric vehicle is not only a second car, it can definitely be the only car in the household.  

Is it going to be linear and perfect? The future will tell us. I doubt it. In any trend transition, you’ve got the pioneers, then we need to convince more and more people. But I’m not concerned about the adoption of EVs in this country. There’s no warning sign or red light at this stage, and I don’t believe we’re going to be facing one in the future.

How are you planning to sell cars in this economy?

Unfortunately, at the beginning, we’ve had people who have had to wait a long, long time. You will see the wait times being diminished significantly over the next 12 months, definitely. I can speak for Volkswagen. 

We’re at the infancy of this transformation. Let’s remain very positive. We’re doing the right thing. Volkswagen wants to demonstrate leadership in this field, and we’re at the forefront and we’re taking risks. We’re making some investments. 

I’m very optimistic about the future of electromobility in this country.

Read Shift—The Logic’s authoritative weekly newsletter on automotive technology industry news—for more; and if you know someone who should be reading it, they can sign up here.