Port Colborne Lithium-ion Battery Separator Plant | ?m | 1s | Asahi Kasei

ericmacm

ericmacm

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The latest battery plant-related investment was just announced today. Honda, as part of its $15B EV investment in Canada, has partnered with Asahi Kasei Corp. to build a battery separator plant in Port Colborne. This will be approximately $1.5B in investment for the area - not as large as the battery plants themselves, but still significant.

A while ago it was rumoured that Winnipeg was in the running to host a EV component plant. It was revealed that this was the plant in question, but they ultimately lost the bid to Port Colborne. Honda, in the coming weeks, is also expected to announce another similar investment in another Ontario municipality. I have heard Lambton County, Essex County, and St. Thomas all being tossed around as potential locations.

Early rendering of the building below (no confirmations on the exact address just yet):
IMG_0495.jpeg
 
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Towered said:
Why Port Colborne?
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We don't know all the details, but we do know that this city 'bid' for the plant and was competing with Winnipeg among other places.

I would imagine, a standard mix of factors would include cost of land, whether it's serviced (and sufficiently so, including electricity demand); sufficient land, including room for growth, logistics (highway/railway/road access for material coming in and goods going out) and proximity of the customer (along with whatever Ontario contributed in incentives).

Honda as a customer creates a clear advantage for somewhere in south-central Ontario as a opposed to another province. While land not near the inner GTA (cost/availability) limits that choice as does anywhere constrained by the Greenbelt. Offhand thoughts.
 
Northern Light said:
We don't know all the details, but we do know that this city 'bid' for the plant and was competing with Winnipeg among other places.

I would imagine, a standard mix of factors would include cost of land, whether it's serviced (and sufficiently so, including electricity demand); sufficient land, including room for growth, logistics (highway/railway/road access for material coming in and goods going out) and proximity of the customer (along with whatever Ontario contributed in incentives).

Honda as a customer creates a clear advantage for somewhere in south-central Ontario as an opposed to another province. While land not near the inner GTA (cost/availability) limits that choice as does anywhere constrained by the Greenbelt. Offhand thoughts.
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Another factor in location may be proximity to a large harbour. I say this because of the town’s location on two important bodies of water, Lake Erie and the Canal. But I do not know if components that are usually shipped like minerals are used here.
 
rdaner said:
Another factor in location may be proximity to a large harbour. I say this because of the town’s location on two important bodies of water, Lake Erie and the Canal. But I do not know if components that are usually shipped like minerals are used here.
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A convenience perhaps, I doubt a necessity if Winnipeg were under consideration at one point.
 
The main benefit that Winnipeg carries is its strong logistics connections to the rest of the continent, mainly by rail, as well as CentrePort.

However, Ontario remains way more competitive due to most of the Canadian automotive industry already being located here. As for why Port Colborne specifically, it’s hard to say. As Northern Light mentioned, these plants really like to be well-connected to highways and rail. Having the Welland Canal nearby also provides another major transportation connection. While it is difficult to tell how AK will make their separators, they are typically made of inert materials. Most appear to be polymer/plastic or ceramic-based, so I doubt critical mineral access is a huge necessity for this plant.
 
Northern Light said:
We don't know all the details, but we do know that this city 'bid' for the plant and was competing with Winnipeg among other places.

I would imagine, a standard mix of factors would include cost of land, whether its serviced (and sufficiently so, including electricity demand); sufficient land, including room for growth, logistics (highway/railway/road access for material coming in and goods going out) and proximity of the customer (along with whatever Ontario contributed in incentives).

Honda as a customer creates a clear advantage for somewhere in south-central Ontario as a opposed to another province. While land not near the inner GTA (cost/availability) limits that choice as does anywhere constrained by the Greenbelt. Offhand thoughts.
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...it's also close to Buffalo?
 
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So really it's more in Welland than Port Colborne.

Good to see. Especially since this land has already been disturbed and isn't productive agricultural area.
 
innsertnamehere said:
So really it's more in Welland than Port Colborne.
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For Clarity, I have marked the plant location. The municipal boundary of Port Colborne is highlighted.

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So it's just inside the Port boundary, but it is much closer to the settlement area of Welland.

innsertnamehere said:
Good to see. Especially since this land has already been disturbed and isn't productive agricultural area.
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Agreed!
 
With the announcement of this plant, I am interested to see if the province will now be looking to potentially extend HWY 406 south along the HWY 140 ROW.
 
Towered said:
Why Port Colborne?
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Why the company chose Port Colborne​

Asahi Kasei president Koshiro Kudo told reporters Tuesday the company has been aiming to build a separator plant abroad for the past few years, looking in Europe and the United States before settling in Canada.

"We have learned that there is a huge enthusiasm coming from the federal government, provincial government and the local municipal government," he said through a translator. "Also, we have [found] that there are plenty of great quality human resources available here."

He said Port Colborne's "welcoming people" and access to rail, water, highways and the Canada-U.S. border as reasons Asahi Kasei chose the city.
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