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Would the revival of the Canadian auto industry involve electrification?
CHRONIC / For the Canadian automotive industry, would the post-COVID-19 be electrified? This is what Electric Mobility Canada (MEC) and other industry players made on Wednesday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, MEC organized virtual conferences on mobility during and after the health crisis caused by the spread of coronavirus. Among them, a panel of players from Canada's automotive industry was setting the stage for what the future of this economic industry might be.
However, it is far from done. Jerry Dias, president of the Unifor union, which has a strong presence in the automotive industry, noted that Canada has already ranked fourth in the world in auto-producing countries. But massive plant closures and cuts, including those in Oshawa and Windsor, Ontario, or the end of GM's plant in St. Therese, have made Canada's star pale in auto production.
"Currently, electric vehicles account for 3% of auto sales, but this figure could rise to at least 15% in the coming years," he says. "And currently no electric [tourism] vehicles are being built in Canada. We need a government strategy in this area. The government must be aggressive, because time is running out. Europe is moving very fast in this sector."
This observation is shared by Karim Zaghib, strategic advisor to the executive committee at Investissement Québec. He worked on a new battery technology that would store more energy in less space. "But this technology isn't for now," he says. "But for lithium-ion batteries, we have natural technologies and resources at our fingertips, both for battery production and for recycling."
Zaghib insists that the industry needs more vision and budget to build an industrial cluster that would bring together manufacturers and universities.