Latest news with #PowerCo
National Observer
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- National Observer
Volkswagen's EV battery-maker charges ahead with $7 billion gigafactory as rivals' plans stall
Volkswagen-owned EV battery manufacturer PowerCo is 'confident' the state-of-the-art gigafactory it is building in southern Ontario will move into production in 2027, despite market headwinds that have led the province's five other auto majors to pull back from multi-billion-dollar sector investments over the past year. PowerCo, which has a $7 billion battery plant under construction in St, Thomas, credited a flexible technology manufacturing strategy with helping it weather regional sector uncertainties in Canada created by the combination of a slow-down in EV demand and the impact of US auto sector tariffs. Earlier this week, Honda Motors became the latest international automaker to pump the brakes on its EV supply chain development plans in Ontario, blaming "changing conditions' for the postponement of its $15 billion investment in the province. The decision adds to the mounting woes faced by Canada's EV manufacturing ambitions, which have already encountered setbacks with Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, and Toyota having paused or shelved factory construction plans, leaving the government's $100 billion strategy in limbo. 'Different companies will have different strategies for the markets and plants they serve. For PowerCo, Gigafactory St. Thomas is a strategic, long-term investment with strong fundamentals,' Tegan Versolatto, PowerCo's Canada spokesperson, told Canada's National Observer. She said the company remained 'on track' to start battery manufacturing in 2027, followed by a ramp-up of commercial production if there was market demand. Verolatto noted that key infrastructure work on the factory site, including a rail spur and substation, is 'well underway.' 'Technology agnostic' battery cell PowerCo's batteries are engineered around what the company calls a "unified cell' — a design that is not limited to current battery cell chemistries like lithium-ion — that would be produced in a standardized factory to reduce costs. 'Different companies will have different strategies for the markets and plants they serve. For PowerCo, Gigafactory St. Thomas is a strategic, long-term investment with strong fundamentals,' Tegan Versolatto, PowerCo's Canada spokesperson 'Our product and production is as simple as possible and at the same time highly flexible. This enables us to react to potential market changes and always have the right product in place,' Versolatto said. All PowerCo battery plants — along with St. Thomas, in Salzgitter, Germany, and Valencia, Spain — will produce the company's cell design, she added. 'That makes our global production network highly flexible and compatible to all scenarios. This enables us to react to potential market changes and always have the right product in place.' Between October 2021 and April 2024, a total of $46.1 billion in investments across the Canadian EV supply chain was announced by automakers including Honda, Volkswagen, GM and Ford, with a further $52.5 billion in support coming from federal and provincial coffers, according to Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer, who is responsible for providing economic and financial analysis to the government. But dark clouds have gathered for months over the long-term future of auto manufacturing in Ontario as the Canada-US trade war has dragged on. Auto plant lay-offs and closures Stellantis sent home 3,000 workers after closing its Windsor, Ont. assembly plant where it manufactures Chrysler Pacifica minivans and electric Dodge Charger pony cars — and also temporarily laid off 900 employees at its US facilities, while General Motors shuttered its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ont., home to its Brightdrop Zevo electric delivery van, leaving 500 employees out of work. A high-profile EV battery gigafactory being built in Quebec by technology developer Northvolt was mothballed in March when its Swedish parent company filed for bankruptcy. More bad news came this week with data from StatsCan. in the last year, with 12,347 new zero emission vehicles sold in March 2025, compared to some 22,390 in the same month in 2024. During the federal election campaign, Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged a $2 billion fund to develop an 'all-in-Canada' auto supply chain. In 2023, Canada imported $2.3 billion in EVs and plug-in hybrids from China. The longer-term outlook for EVs in Canada looks brighter. Statista, a data provider, is forecasting the country's market will still expand to be worth over $11.5 billion in 2025 and grow at almost 10 per cent a year to $17 billion by 2029, by which time almost 250,000 EVs will be on Canadian roads. Newly appointed federal Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly said during a press scrum yesterday that she aimed to have 'good conversations with [all six automakers] before the end of the week' to discuss their future EV market plans in the country.
CBC
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- CBC
Plans in the works to redevelop former St. Thomas psychiatric hospital land into housing
A plan to redevelop the former St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital grounds into a multi-use community is beginning to take shape, as Central Elgin looks to build housing to meet an anticipated spike in demand from the VW battery gigafactory. The new multi-billion dollar plant, set to open in 2027 under Volkswagen AG subsidiary PowerCo, will support up to 3,000 direct jobs and a projected 30,000 indirect jobs when fully operational in the northeast St. Thomas. Officials in neighbouring Central Elgin say that won't just mean unprecedented economic opportunities, but also a drastic need for new homes. With more than 130 hectares of land sitting largely vacant, the former psychiatric hospital grounds are a promising solution. On Monday, Central Elgin councillors got the ball rolling, endorsing a vision and guiding principles document for the redevelopment — a first step in the planning process to create a larger project roadmap. The document envisions a mixed-use community, potentially housing as many as 9,000 residents and over 3,500 homes. The municipality anticipates it will see most of the additional population growth in the area over the next 25 years. "Given current population and employment growth implications of the VW plant, future development of the Hospital Lands is critical to supporting the quick delivery of housing for direct and indirect employees," the document says. With housing the top issue in recent elections, redeveloping the lands is a chance for Central Elgin to be part of the solution, Mayor Andrew Sloan said. A so-called vision session held in January between council and consultants from NPG Planning laid the groundwork for the document when it comes to what a new community should include. "People really want to see a mix of commercial," Sloan said. "There's a lot of interest in having a downtown area with parks and opportunities to walk, ride bikes … different levels of people from incomes as well as age." Council and community engagement will come in the fall which will help determine things like housing types, and how parks and community services will be incorporated, said Mary Lou Tanner, president of NPG Planning. A directions report will be tabled by year's end, and a public meeting will be held in early 2026, followed with an Official Plan amendment, creating the policies and mapping how the community will be laid out, Tanner said. When residents might actually see shovels in the ground depends on the province, which owns the land. "At this point, it is dependent on when the province divests itself of the lands. That is the linchpin to getting moving on shovels in the ground," Tanner said. Sloan says the municipality hopes to get direction from Infrastructure Ontario soon about whether they'll divest the site to Central Elgin, or sell it on the open market. Either way, Central Elgin has planning review authority. "We're part of the solution regardless if we own it, or we're working with someone that does own it, but preferably, we'd like to have a chance to own it ourselves," Sloan said. The total former hospital grounds cover roughly 168 hectares of land. Nearly 32 hectares is occupied by the former hospital buildings, the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care SCFMHC and an OPP detachment. Tanner says it's expected the current mental health care facility and OPP detachment will remain. "We are working to plan for the whole site," including the former hospital buildings, "but what ultimately gets sold will be the province's decision," Tanner said. CBC News has reached out to Infrastructure Ontario for comment. The redevelopment plans are largely possible thanks to the VW battery plant. In 2023, the province passed legislation allowing St. Thomas to annex 607 hectares of farmland from Central Elgin to attract the German automaker. A roughly $80 million settlement reached last year between the two municipalities saw Central Elgin gain 1,700 cubic metres per day of wastewater treatment capacity for the hospital lands. The former St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital opened in 1939, and was operated by the province until 2001 when it was divested to St. Joseph's Health Care London. The facility closed in 2013 with the opening of the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health nearby. In 2021, a Fifth Estate investigation revealed that from 1977 to 1983, men found either guilty or "not criminally responsible" for rape, murder and other crimes had been sent to the hospital from Oak Ridge Psychiatric Unit to serve as patient-teachers to women with mental illness. The report served as the catalyst for a class action lawsuit, certified last year, alleging psychological, physical, and sexual abuse.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Why QuantumScape's Focus on Producing Samples in 2025 Could Be a Game Changer for This Auto Market Supplier
When QuantumScape (NYSE: QS) reported its 2024 financial results, it highlighted some key achievements. The big ones were all around producing samples of its various solid-state battery products. Given those were the big wins, it shouldn't be too surprising that the company lost roughly $475 million in the year. In 2025, the big goal is to produce even more samples. That 2025 goal could be more important than you think. Here's why. QuantumScape is attempting to make high tech, solid state batteries. The main target market for these batteries is electric vehicles (EV). That's an important factor to consider when looking at the stock because, essentially, the company is trying to become an original equipment manufacturer, or OEM. Cars are highly regulated, and the safety requirements automakers have to meet are lofty. There's a good reason for that given how dangerous it can be when something goes wrong. That includes both malfunctions and human error on the part of the driver. Carmakers, by necessity, spend a lot of time vetting their OEM suppliers. This is where things get complicated for an upstart supplier like QuantumScape. There is a massive OEM infrastructure already in place. When a part gets approved by an automaker and included in a car, it tends to be hard to displace. And when a carmaker has a supplier it knows it can count on, it tends to go back to that supplier again and again. Once an OEM has a part that's been built into a car, it usually has a reliable long-term income stream around that part. This is where QuantumScape's opportunity and problem lie. While EVs are new, there is an OEM supply network around them. QuantumScape is attempting to break into that supply network. It is still relatively early for EVs, so there is an opportunity to get one of the company's batteries into a vehicle manufacturing process. The way to do that is to make samples for automakers to test out. That's what QuantumScape has been doing and what it plans to keep doing in 2025. In fact, the company specifically states that "our most significant operational milestone is to ship Cobra-based B1 samples of the QSE-5 cell." This sounds underwhelming for a company that is attempting to become sustainably profitable. But it has to happen, and it could literally be the most important step of the process. At this point, it has entered into a partnership with PowerCo, a battery maker operated by Volkswagen. The goal is to prove that QuantumScape's battery technology can be integrated into Volkswagen's automaking processes. QuantumScape hopes that this will be a "blueprint" for similar deals with other companies. If this partnership goes well, QuantumScape will be one step closer to its 2026 goal of a "first customer launch." If it achieves that 2026 goal, it will mean the OEM has created a reliable, and likely long-term, income stream. While it sounds like a small achievement to produce samples, QuantumScape's samples are the key to its future success. If its samples live up to EV maker expectations, it will find ready buyers of its batteries. Often the biggest test is getting that very first customer to sign on. As such, the partnership with Volkswagen could be a make or break deal for the OEM upstart. QuantumScape is only appropriate for more aggressive investors, and 2025's sample progress is something you will want to pay very close attention to if you buy the stock. Before you buy stock in QuantumScape, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and QuantumScape wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $461,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $578,035!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 730% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 147% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025 Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why QuantumScape's Focus on Producing Samples in 2025 Could Be a Game Changer for This Auto Market Supplier was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Columbus McKinnon Chosen as PowerCo's Global Intralogistics Partner for its New Gigafactories with montrac® Solution
Reinforces CMCO's growing leadership position in the fast-growing electrification and battery production vertical end market Reports fourth consecutive quarter of significant battery production related orders, demonstrating strength of montrac® solution CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Columbus McKinnon Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCO) ("Columbus McKinnon" or the "Company"), a leading designer and manufacturer of intelligent motion solutions, products and technologies for material handling, today announced that it won the bid to become the supplier of choice for stacking and intralogistics technology for PowerCo, the battery company of Volkswagen Group. The Company will provide state-of-the-art precision conveyance technology to PowerCo for its gigafactory projects in St. Thomas, Canada, and Valencia, Spain that are currently under construction. The Company will provide PowerCo its high-tech montrac® precision conveyance solution for its battery cell stacking process in addition to transportation lines and other capabilities to efficiently move product across their new gigafactories. "In addition to the significant montrac® orders we received earlier this year for the first lines within PowerCo's new gigafactories in St. Thomas and Valencia, as a supplier of choice, we have a long runway for growth with more than $100 million of order potential over the next few years," said David Wilson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Columbus McKinnon. "We are excited about the funnel of opportunities generated by both our partnership with PowerCo and across the global electrification and battery production industry more broadly." About Columbus McKinnonColumbus McKinnon is a leading worldwide designer, manufacturer and marketer of intelligent motion solutions that move the world forward and improve lives by efficiently and ergonomically moving, lifting, positioning, and securing materials. Key products include hoists, crane components, precision conveyor systems, rigging tools, light rail workstations, and digital power and motion control systems. The Company is focused on commercial and industrial applications that require the safety and quality provided by its superior design and engineering know-how. Comprehensive information on Columbus McKinnon is available at About montratec GmbHAcquired by Columbus McKinnon in 2023, montratec is a leading supplier of intralogistics and process automation technology to facilitate fully automated, energy-saving, vibration-free, and highly precise material flow. The highly efficient, space-saving design allows for configurations optimized to the customer's application and can be easily adapted to changing processes or process expansion. The systems also feature an internationally standardized, manufacturer-independent IO-Link control interface that is a key component of our intelligent montrac® intralogistics solution. The technology is also certified for ESD-safe transport of the battery cells. With more than 5,000 installations of the intelligent montrac® transfer system worldwide, montratec offers innovative and customer-specific solutions for the linking and automation of intralogistics processes in all industrial areas as well as in cleanroom production. Additional information can be found at . Safe Harbor StatementThis news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are generally identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "illustrative," "intend," "likely," "may," "opportunity," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "shall," "should," "target," "will," "would" and, in each case, their negative or other various or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but instead represent our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future conditions, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. These risks include, but are not limited to, the risk factors that are described under the section titled "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 as well as in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on its website at Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Columbus McKinnon undertakes no duty to update publicly any such forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law, regulation or other competent legal authority. Contacts:Kristine MoserVP IR and TreasurerColumbus McKinnon View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Columbus McKinnon Corporation Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
VW's Ontario PowerCo plant faces potential tariff disruption, slower ramp up on lagging EV sales, exec warns
Volkswagen Group battery unit PowerCo is forging ahead with construction on its cell-manufacturing plant in St. Thomas, Ont., but the trade war roiling the North American auto market leaves the plant exposed to possible tariffs, according to the automaker's top leadership. Group CEO Oliver Blume said construction plans for the plant are 'on schedule,' but signalled that tariffs present a risk, given the plant in the city midway between Toronto and Windsor will supply VW assembly plants in the United States. 'We have to see how this all plays out … and face up to what will happen,' Blume told reporters through an interpreter March 11, as the group reported its 2024 results. Blume did not directly address a question on whether the company could reconsider the siting decision made in April 2023. The roughly 350-acre (140 hectare) site for the $7-billion (CND) battery plant has been fully prepped for construction but work on the plant itself has not begun. Read more: Live updates on tariff news and impacts Interactive map: Auto manufacturing sites in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico Blume said the company expects the highly integrated nature of the North American auto sector will be a significant factor as the trade situation develops. PowerCo Canada would not elaborate on Blume's comments about the impact tariffs could have on St. Thomas. In a March 12 statement, spokesperson Tegan Versolatto said the St. Thomas battery plant 'is a strategic, long-term investment with strong fundamentals, and we are confident in its potential to drive economic growth and create skilled jobs in Canada.' VW Group CFO Arno Antlitz told reporters March 11 that the company still plans to start production in St. Thomas in 2027, in line with its original plans. But with EV sales lagging expectations, PowerCo will ramp up capacity at the plant more slowly. 'Such a factory is not a kind of monolithic thing. You invest into blocks per factory. A block has 18 or 20 gigawatt-hours,' Antlitz told reporters through an interpreter. In St. Thomas — as well as at its upcoming plant in Valencia, Spain — PowerCo will delay work on an unspecified number of production blocks 'because we are planning less electric cars,' Antlitz said. Battery output at PowerCo's first cell plant in Salzgitter, Germany, is scheduled to start this year. The plant planned for Ontario, meantime, is the company's largest. At full capacity it is expected to have a half-dozen production blocks and produce 90 GWh of battery cells annually. Originally, the company planned to have all six battery-cell lines up and running by mid-2028. Antlitz did not say when the plant would reach full production, but said the ramp up will be adapted 'to the market need.' PowerCo Canada would not share a detailed ramp-up timetable. The company initially told suppliers construction would start in 2024, but crews are now expected to start pouring concrete this spring. 'Key infrastructure work on a rail spur and substation is well under way, and we look forward to sharing more milestones as they arrive this year,' Versolatto said. Sign in to access your portfolio
