Ontario government loans $670M to Norway-based EV battery manufacturer

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is doubling down on investing taxpayer dollars in the electric vehicle sector, despite the failures of previous subsidized projects and plummeting consumer interest

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is doubling down on investing taxpayer dollars in the electric vehicle sector, despite the failures of previous subsidized projects and plummeting consumer interest.

“I think this is the way of the future,” Ford told reporters in St. Thomas, Ont., on Thursday. “This is the way we’re going. That’s the way the world is going, and we’re going to make sure that we’re leaders around the world when it comes to battery manufacturing and electric vehicles.”

Ford’s comments came after he announced that the Ontario government would provide a loan of $670 million to global synthetic graphite manufacturer Vianode to support the construction of a “new state-of-the-art facility in St. Thomas.”

The Norway-based company will invest 3.2 billion in the project, which the Ford government says will “create nearly 300 new, good-paying jobs in its initial phase, with 1,000 jobs expected once the facility is at full operational capacity, generating broad economic benefits across southwestern Ontario.”

“We’re ahead of the curve, and everyone else is going to be playing catch-up,” said Ford. “We’re miles ahead.”

However, despite billions in taxpayer subsidies from both federal and provincial governments in recent years, many automakers are moving away from manufacturing EVs.

Ford’s funding announcement comes in the wake of EV manufacturer Stellantis relocating its Jeep Compass production from Brampton, Ont., to Illinois after receiving $15 billion in taxpayer funding. The move resulted in the loss of approximately 3,000 Canadian jobs.

Ottawa has since begun a formal dispute resolution process in an attempt to recover Canadians’ money.

Similarly, General Motors also announced that it will cease production of its electric van, resulting in 1,200 lost jobs in Ontario last month, citing low consumer interest.

EV sales have been in free fall for some time.

According to Statistics Canada, EV sales dropped 35.2 per cent in June compared to last year. Zero-emission vehicles comprised only 7.9 per cent of total new motor vehicles sold that month, with 14,090 entering the market.

Meanwhile, 177,313 new motor vehicles were sold in Canada in June, up 6.2 per cent from June 2024.

“In dollar terms, sales increased 3.1 per cent during the same period. In June 2025, there were more new motor vehicles sold in every province compared with the same period in 2024,” reads the Statistics Canada data.

“Sales of new passenger cars increased 19.5 per cent in June 2025, marking the first gain in this subsector since November 2024. In June 2025, sales of new trucks (+4.3 per cent) were also higher than one year earlier.”

Then there is the issue of Ottawa’s EV mandates to boost sales, which have failed to meet the federal government’s targets.

A recent study from economic think tank the C.D. Howe Institute called on the Liberals to walk back their 2026 Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate altogether, which it said “faces mounting evidence it was unlikely ever to be met.”

The Carney government is expected to announce changes to its EV mandate in the coming months, which currently requires 20 per cent of new light-vehicle sales to be electric by next year.

However, the report said the mandate “remains unrealistic beyond 2026.”

“Even if incentives return, the targets far exceed what consumers are willing or able to buy,” said Brian Livingston, author of the report. “Mandates alone won’t generate the demand or the vehicles needed to meet these goals.”

According to Livingston’s analysis, under the 2026 requirement, automakers would collectively be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to comply or face more than $200 million in penalties.