St. Thomas EV plant full power ahead after plant in eastern Ontario halts construction

At a St. Thomas parking lot, Brad Toner proudly shows off what’s under the hood of his Mustang GT.

“My dad had one and my mom has one,” he explained.

He’s a young driver with old school tastes.

“It’s just what I was raised to get,” said Toner.

He doesn’t think he’s alone in his reluctance to embracing newer, greener electric vehicle technology.

“I don’t think Canada’s really ready for the way we’re targeting EV sales around here. You know, there’s not the infrastructure. There’s only really a couple of big charging stations around here and people don’t really want to wait for their cars to charge to go somewhere,” he said.

Brad Toner is pictured with his Mustang GT on July 29, 2024. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)

In fact, the road to EVs has not been as smooth as some expected. EV battery component manufacturer Umicore has put the brakes on construction of its new plant in eastern Ontario.

This, as construction at St. Thomas’ Volkswagen battery plant shows no signs of slowing down.

The head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturing association of Canada doesn’t expect that to change any time soon.

“So as long as Volkswagen group is committed to 2027, 2028, 2029 to building those vehicles, it needs those batteries,” explained Flavio Volpe. “And it is committed. I had a chance to tour the sister plant in Germany about a month ago to see just how far that planning goes, and just how excited they are about St. Thomas.”

Canada is pouring billions of dollars into becoming an EV supply chain leader, just as global sales of EVs slow substantially, and production drops. At least one industry expert believes the slowdown in EV sales has to do in part with the government’s zero emissions vehicle sales mandates kicking up to 100 per cent by 2035.

“And people who have never been in an EV, have never driven an EV are saying I’ll never drive an EV,” said Brendan Sweeney of the Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing. “Okay, is that because the car doesn’t perform as well as you like. No. It’s just become a bit of a statement. If you’re telling me to do something, even if I got 12 years to prepare for it, then I never want it.”

As for Toner, he knows he’ll have to change course one day down the road, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it.

“If that day comes and I am forced to not drive it any more then I’ll probably have to,” he conceded.