{"id":98995,"date":"2025-01-31T13:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T18:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=98995"},"modified":"2025-01-31T16:34:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T21:34:45","slug":"opinion-charles-conteh-and-tia-henstra-discuss-the-future-of-electric-vehicles-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/01\/opinion-charles-conteh-and-tia-henstra-discuss-the-future-of-electric-vehicles-in-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION: Charles Conteh and Tia Henstra discuss the future of electric vehicles in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

This piece written by Charles Conteh, Professor of Political Science at Brock University, and Tia Henstra, Research Assistant at Brock University, originally appeared in The Conversation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The electric vehicle (EV) industry has been one of the most defining technological trends of the past decade, transforming the automotive sector while fuelling advancements in manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Yet after\u00a0billions of taxpayer dollars have been invested, the EV industry in Canada is facing headwinds. Chief among these are the\u00a0trade tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

For a country with an\u00a0automotive sector that exports 91 per cent\u00a0of its parts to the U.S.,\u00a0the threats feel existential. They may also be seen as a betrayal of the centuries-long economic and cultural partnership between two neighbours sharing one of the world\u2019s longest and most porous borders.<\/p>\n

Adding to these international headwinds are three other obstacles within the EV industry:\u00a0high costs, limited battery range and sparse battery charging infrastructure. These concerns continue to affect firms here in Canada,\u00a0with the likes of Stellantis\u00a0juggling high inventory, slow sales and falling revenue.<\/p>\n

These challenges have\u00a0sparked skepticism about the future of EVs in Canada\u00a0and whether the federal and provincial governments\u2019 multi-billion-dollar investments in the industry are wise.<\/p>\n

As researchers who study Canada and other countries\u2019 innovation policy initiatives amid breakneck changes in technologies and markets, we argue that Canada has every reason to ratchet up its commitments in the months and years ahead.<\/p>\n

Along with artificial intelligence, EV represents the emergent frontier of advanced manufacturing in the digital age. Winners of this innovation race will stand to dominate the global market for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

The case for staying the course<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite current challenges, EVs remain the future of the automotive sector. Even conservative estimates suggest that by 2040,\u00a0around three-quarters of new car sales will be fully electric\u00a0globally.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s position in the EV industry is stronger than recent news coverage indicates. The country ranked first among 30 countries in a 2024\u00a0EV battery supply chain report, outperforming even China.<\/p>\n

This ranking reflects Canada\u2019s\u00a0vast reserves of critical minerals essential for EV battery production\u00a0and its burgeoning battery manufacturing sector.<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, Canada has attracted significant investments from manufacturers like\u00a0Umicore,\u00a0Northvolt\u00a0and\u00a0Volkswagen-owned PowerCo.<\/p>\n

Canada has reasons to be optimistic about EV and energy storage demand. While concerns about U.S. protectionism loom, Canada\u2019s\u00a0commitment to zero-emission vehicles\u00a0ensures fiscal incentives and policies that will likely boost short-term demand.<\/p>\n

On the environmental, social and governance front,\u00a0Canada outperforms many of its global competitors in battery manufacturing. Though by no means perfect, the country\u2019s climate change policy ambitions, clean electricity grid and\u00a0commitment to sustainable mining\u00a0position it as a global leader in the EV space.<\/p>\n

Advanced manufacturing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s\u00a0robust innovation ecosystem for advanced manufacturing\u00a0is another key strength. A prime example is the\u00a0Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network\u00a0(OVIN).<\/p>\n

OVIN commercializes advanced automotive technologies and manages the development, testing, piloting and uptake of transportation and infrastructure technologies. It operates seven regional technology development sites across Ontario, including in Waterloo, Hamilton, Windsor-Essex, Durham and Toronto.<\/p>\n

By serving as a bridge between government, industry and researchers, OVIN has become a model for multi-level governance, with projects jointly funded by the federal and provincial governments and close working relationships with municipalities.<\/p>\n

As the EV industry navigates economic and policy challenges, initiatives like OVIN are crucial for driving long-term growth and competitiveness.<\/p>\n

The road ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Canada\u2019s automotive innovation ecosystem is generally robust, it requires some\u00a0calibration to overcome current challenges\u00a0and claim the next frontier of the global EV race.<\/p>\n

In particular, Canada needs to consolidate its EV innovation ecosystem by integrating the upstream of its domestic supply chain assets with the downstream of its technology commercialization and adoption.<\/p>\n

In other words, this means getting more critical minerals to market and making sure a substantial portion of the materials mined in Canada are processed and used domestically to build batteries and vehicles, so the entire EV production cycle benefits Canada\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Such an endeavour will require Canada to establish the right\u00a0policies, regulations and financial support\u00a0to tap into its vast reserves of critical minerals to supply the country\u2019s battery plants.<\/p>\n

It is the presence of these reserves that made Canada attractive to the automakers in the first place. Leveraging them wisely will be critical for the country\u2019s long-term success in the EV industry.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charles Conteh, Professor of Political Science at Brock University, and Tia Henstra, Research Assistant at Brock University, recently published a piece in The Conversation about the future of Canada\u2019s electric vehicle industry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,38],"tags":[3095,4104,522,42,31,5512],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98995"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99019,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98995\/revisions\/99019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}