“Together with our supplier partners, GM is building a new, safer and more sustainable ecosystem for electric vehicles, anchored in North American resources, technology and manufacturing know-how,” Doug Parks, executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain, said in a statement.

“Canada plays an important role in our all-electric future, and we appreciate the strong support we have received from local, provincial, and national officials in growing a North America-focused EV value chain.”

Automaker GM and chemicals producer POSCO initially revealed plans for a CAM joint venture in Canada in 2021. Now that Quebec has been chosen to host the facility, construction will start next, with production starting in 2025.

POSCO CEO Min Kyung-Zoon said in the statement, “We will lead the successful transition to the EV era by further strengthening the strategic partnership with GM and securing a world-class technological competitiveness production line."

The $400 CAM plant will be developed in Quebec with support from the governments of Canada and Quebec.

François-Philippe Champagne, the Canadian minister of innovation, science and industry, called the CAM facility an important milestone in Quebec’s goal to be a dominant player in automakers’ supply chains and electrification.

“Beginning with this announcement, Quebec will be part of the supply chain for cars in North America, and that’s a big, big change,” Champagne said during a March 7 press conference, noting that most of Canada’s automotive-related production currently takes place in Ontario.

Champagne said officials were now focusing on further developing an integrated “mining to recycle” battery supply chain in Quebec, and that the next step would be to add battery manufacturing capacity in the region.

Germany’s BASF on March 4 also announced to invest in a CAM production and recycling plant in Becancour by 2025.

Role of CAM in GM Supply

GM Canada President and Managing Director Scott Bell noted that adding CAM production sites will be an important part of the company’s EV supply chain, since materials are about 40 percent of the cost of each EV battery cell.

“That supply chain starts with the mining of key materials, in this case nickel, which Canada has a large endowment of, and those raw materials are then turned into precursor,” Bell said at the press conference. “This precursor will be processed into CAM with the processing happening at Becancour, which will feed the 4 Ultium cell battery plants we are building with LG Chem in the USA."

GM has "aspirations to machine-build" 1 million EVs per year by 2025, Bell said. The automaker plans to electrify its entire lineup of light-duty-vehicle offerings by 2035, he said.

The full statement said GM is aiming for a "fully encompassed EV supply chain, with the majority of components by value to be sustainably sourced, processed or manufactured in North America."

The US-headquartered brand had previously outlined partnerships with third parties to build out its other domestic EV supply chains for lithium, rare earths, alloy flakes, and permanent magnets.