Back in April, Ford EV partner EcoPro, which is a cathode material company, announced that it was postponing a planned $87 million investment in EcoCAM Canada, a joint-venture that was aiming to open a cathode plant in that country by 2026, which was later pushed back to 2027. Amid a general global slowdown in terms of expected growth in demand for all-electric vehicles, the construction of that same cathode plant was temporarily put on ice this past August, though EcoPro remains adamant that it plans to open that facility as soon as possible. Now, however, it’s facing a big obstacle in making that happen.
According to Radio-Canada, Ford has decided to pull out of the under-construction cathode plant that country, though EcoPro reportedly plans to forge ahead with the project, regardless. “I visited the construction site last week in Bécancour and I saw that it was very lively. There are more than 1,000 people on the EcoPro construction site. I met with the leader of EcoPro Canada and [he] confirmed to me that the project was moving forward,” said Canada’s Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Christine Fréchette. At the same time, Ford signs have apparently been removed from the site, too.
As for why Ford opted to pull out of the cathode plant project as a minority shareholder, a spokesperson for the automaker pointed to “changes in electric vehicle technology, costs, and needs,” while others note that this may not be the last such move made by a big company. “It’s not the entire battery sector that falls because Ford is leaving. But, again, we must always be careful with what the government tells us. Because there, it was Ford everywhere, then the Ford logo, then we boasted about Ford,” said leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
Ford has shifted gears in a big way to respond to slowing demand growth for EVs, canceling a pair of future three-row all-electric crossovers and instead opting to produce the Ford Super Duty at the Oakville Assembly plant – which was previously slated to build those new EVs – and delaying the production start of the next-generation Ford F-150 EV. Meanwhile, the automaker is instead focusing on developing smaller, cheaper EVs amid continued concerns over pricing disparities.
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