Canada’s First EV Battery Separator Plant to Open in Port Colborne, Ont. in 2027

A small city in Ontario’s Niagara Region will be the future site of a $1.6-billion manufacturing plant that produces key components for electric vehicle batteries. Japanese company Asahi Kasei Corp. will set up Canada’s first lithium ion battery separator plant in Port Colborne, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on May 14. Construction will be completed by the end of this year and the facility is expected to be commercially operational in 2027. Asahi Kasei president Koshiro Kudo told reporters the company initially aimed to construct a separator plant in Europe or the United States but chose Canada because of the “support and enthusiasm” of all three levels of government and the “great quality human resources available here.”...