German auto giant Volkswagen has secured an exclusive contract with Canada that could be worth more than $13 billion over the next 10 years to build an electric-vehicle battery plant in southwestern Ontario.
Volkswagen announced last month it had chosen the city of St. Thomas, Ont., to build its first overseas gigafactory. The plant, which will be operated by Volkswagen’s battery company PowerCo, marks the first manufacturing presence in Canada for the world’s largest automaker.
PowerCo chairman Thomas Schmall told reporters a month ago that it looked at 200 different parameters in making its site selection, including the proximity to raw materials for the batteries, location relative to its U.S. vehicle manufacturing sites, and the availability of clean electricity….