‘Wow, that’s huge’: St. Thomas, Ont. officials tour Volkswagen battery plant in Germany

At more than two-million square feet, the mayor of St. Thomas, Ont. couldn’t believe the size of the battery plant under construction in Salzgitter, Germany.

“It is about a third the size of what St. Thomas’ would be. And truly all I could do was stand at the side and go ‘wow, that's huge,’” Preston said after his trip overseas this week.

“Now picture three times that sitting just north off of Ron McNeil (Line) and Highbury (Ave).”

Preston, along with city manager Sandra Datars Bere and Economic Development Corp. CEO Sean Dyke, spent three days in Germany, before arriving home Saturday.

They met the Lord Mayor of Salzgitter, took a tour of the Volkswagen battery and car plants.

It was an exciting week for those involved in the ‘Mega Site’ project.

"We started the week off with a positive news announcement,” says Dyke.

St. Thomas, Ont. mayor Joe Preston (third from right) meets with officials from PowerCo SE during a trip to Salzgitter Germany (Source: City of St. Thomas)

“That was the first phase of grading was completed. This gave us a nice intro when we go to Germany to speak with the president of PowerCo (SE) Frank Blome.”

Preston spoke at a PowerCo SE town hall, and the officials crammed a lot into the two days of activity.

"It really answered some of the questions we had going in surrounding labour and the process of making batteries. They have a pilot line in Salzgitter that is really impressive to see both on the production and recycling side, where they turn those batteries back into other uses and other batteries,” he said.

Dyke says the facility is two cells, a cell is what they are calling each building in St. Thomas, and being able to see the enormity of each of those cells, is exciting to know what is coming to St. Thomas is that impressive and more.

During the tour of the recycling plant, officials learned that PowerCo’s pilot project is reaching 95-97 per cent efficiency on reused batteries.

“They grind them down, and rebuild them as new batteries, which eliminates the need to go back to the mines for those chemicals that initially went in,” says Dyke.

Volkswagen Group in Salzgitter Germany (Source: Volkswagen)

Prior to heading to Germany, Preston met with new PowerCo SE employees who have started working at an office on Talbot St. in St. Thomas located in the former Marriot call-centre building.

"It's almost 30 employees all from Canada,” says Preston.

“They are all in HR (human resources), construction, and planning with the intent there will be about 300 people working in that office. Don’t think downtown won't notice that.”

And while office work is underway downtown, a few kilometres north east, work will continue at the ‘Mega Site.’

“While they're working on the ground breaking, and getting ready to start construction of Phase One, we'll be working on Phase Two to get it ready,” says Dyke.

That ground breaking should start early in the New Year.

“2024 will be an exceptionally busy year at the site here in St. Thomas,” says Preston.

“Now having seen the Salzgitter plant, we know what it ends up looking like so when we do start doing the building. It’ll be great, and a huge facility it will be for us in St. Thomas.” 

PowerCo SE has set up an office in St. Thomas, Ont. with a plan for close to 300 employees pictured on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)