South Korean firm opening copper foil plant in Quebec for use in electric vehicles

A new player has enteredQuebec's electric vehicle battery sector, with a South Korean firm announcing it will open a copper foil factory in the province by 2026.

Volta Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of South Korea's Solus Advanced Materials, will produce copper foil for car batteries destined for a growing North American market. The company will retrofit a facility in Granby, Que., east of Montreal, for the copper plant, which will provideQuebecwith another piece of the global EV battery supply chain.

Volta Energy's plant, the first of its kind in Canada, will initially produce about 23,000 tonnesof copper foil per year starting in 2026. The company intends to increase capacity to allow for 57,000 tonneswhen an expansion to the plant is ready to open in 2027, enough for about 2.5 million electric vehicle batteries. Construction on the expansion will begin next year.

TheQuebecgovernment is lending the company$150 million $26 million of which is forgivable for the $750-million project that is expected to create 260 jobs. Ottawa, meanwhile, won't invest a matching amount but will offer Volta Energy about $70 million through green investment tax credits and other programs.

Volta Energy Solutions has two other copper foil plants, in Hungary and Luxembourg.

QuebecPremier Franois Legault attended the announcement Tuesday in Granby and said the project confirms the province is attracting global leaders in the battery and electric transportation industry.

"It will permitQuebecto have the first factory for EV battery copper foil in Canada, so we will be a leader,"Legault said. "This factory will export all over North America."

Last month, Ford Motor Company announced a $1.2-billion manufacturing plant inQuebecfor cathode active materials, which determine the capacity and power of EV batteries.