Asahi Kasei Corporation brass, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and other dignitaries were in Port Colborne, Ont. Tuesday, May 14 to announce a new battery component plant that will support Canada’s electric vehicle assembly.

Japan-based Asahi Kasei is investing approximately $1.6 billion to build an EV battery separator plant at the southern Niagara Region community.

“Canada bet big on electric vehicles, and today, the biggest manufacturers in the world are building them right here in Canada. Asahi Kasei’s investment is another vote of confidence in our auto industry and auto workers. We’re creating good-paying jobs, keeping the air clean, and putting Canada at the forefront of this exciting opportunity,” Trudeau said in a news release.

Asahi Kasei is a multinational company. Its Port Colborne plant will produce Hipore battery separators, which is an essential component of the lithium-ion batteries that makes them more sustainable and durable.

“As demand for electric vehicles – and the lithium-ion batteries that power them – continues to rise, we are eager to bring the first Hipore wet-process lithium-ion separator manufacturing facility to Canada,” said Koshiro Kudo, president and representative director, Asahi Kasei Corporation, in the news release. “Backed by the abundant renewable resources, skilled talent, and strong local community support here in Port Colborne, we will be able to better serve our partners in the region as well as the broader North American automotive market from this facility.”

The news release says the construction of the facility will be completed by the end of this year, while the plant will be commercially functional in 2027.

“Today’s announcement is more good news for Ontario’s world-leading electric vehicle manufacturing sector and the thousands of workers who are benefiting from the billions of investments being made in our province,” Ford said in the release. “Asahi Kasei’s investment will bring economic growth and good-paying jobs to workers in Port Colborne and across the Niagara Region. It’s also yet another show of confidence in our government’s ongoing work to build a domestic EV supply chain in Ontario that benefits workers across the province, from critical mineral extraction in the Ring of Fire to battery manufacturing in Port Colborne and everywhere in between.”

The Government of Canada announced several new incentives to attract investment in clean technology manufacturing here, including the Clean Technology Manufacturing credit and an EV supply chain investment tax credit.

The Asahi Kasei project is expected to receive support from the Clean Technology Manufacturing investment tax credit, while the Province of Ontario is expected to support the project with direct and indirect incentives.

The news release didn’t provide a dollar figure of how much the provincial and federal governments are supporting the project.

The Government of Canada has a target of 100 per cent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035.