It’s fair to say that the outpouring of corporate subsidies by Canadian governments is without precedent in recent times. We should talk about that. Is it a wise use of public money?
The latest flashpoint for criticism of that largesse is the recently announced $7 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery plant, subsidized by governments, that Volkswagen AG plans to build in St. Thomas, Ont.Is Canada’s subsidy of Volkswagen EV battery plant ‘corporate welfare’ or a once-in-a-lifetime investment?
Volkswagen announces $20 billion effort to build its own EV batteries
… Starting in 2023, VW plans to roll out a new unified prismatic cell design of its batteries that will be installed across the automaker’s brands. The goal is to have this unified cell design powering up to 80 percent of VW’s electric vehicles by 2030. VW also has contracts with two other major battery producers, Samsung and CATL (Communist China Owned). And the company is backing a startup based in San Jose, California, QuantumScape, which is working on more energy-efficient solid-state batteries.
Free Money is always attractive but I bet Canadian production never reaches Trudeau’s hyped up numbers and VW will hightail it to Mexico at the changeover to Solid State.
