St Thomas EV GigaFactory - VW - PowerCo

jammer139 · #1 Posted **Mar 13, 2023, 4:44 PM**

New thread for all discussions on progress of this new plant.

Plan to start production in 2027.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada...rica-1.6310887

jammer139 · #2 Posted **Mar 13, 2023, 5:11 PM**

Transportation links that should see improvements.

1. Twinning of Highbury Ave into a proper 4 lane divided highway.
2. Improvements to the St. Thomas to Ingersol rail spur line. Namely the numerous level crossings and railbed.

MolsonExport · #3 Posted **Mar 13, 2023, 5:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jammer139

New thread for all discussions on progress of this new plant.

Plan to start production in 2027.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada...rica-1.6310887

great news!

jammer139 · #4 Posted **Mar 13, 2023, 11:03 PM**

Updated LFP article with map.

https://lfpress.com/business/local-b...-battery-plant

Djeffery · #5 Posted **Mar 13, 2023, 11:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jammer139

Transportation links that should see improvements.

1. Twinning of Highbury Ave into a proper 4 lane divided highway.
2. Improvements to the St. Thomas to Ingersol rail spur line. Namely the numerous level crossings and railbed.

Or neither, considering they are sending product to the US. 3 bypass to highway 4 to 401W.

CanadianTalk · #6 Posted **Mar 14, 2023, 12:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jammer139

Updated LFP article with map.

https://lfpress.com/business/local-b...-battery-plant

Northern boundary is Ron McNeil Line, eastern boundary is Yarmouth Centre Road, western boundary is Highbury and southern boundary runs straight off of South Edgware Road.

Djeffery · #7 Posted **Mar 14, 2023, 1:09 AM**

I wonder how much of that land is for this project? That's a huge chunk of land and the yellow shaded area doesn't even include all of the land St Thomas put together. South of that box and east of Centennial down to the railway is also part of the land acquisition. For comparison sake, Formet, which is near the bottom centre of that image, is a million and VW will be twice that. That land could hold several VW sized projects. Wonder what kind of support industries could go there as well.

tyeman200 · #8 Posted **Mar 14, 2023, 1:29 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Or neither, considering they are sending product to the US. 3 bypass to highway 4 to 401W.

Higbury has needed to be 4 lanes for over a decade now. Also wouldn't hurt to do Wellington as well.

Djeffery · #9 Posted **Mar 14, 2023, 1:49 AM**

Sure, no problem, I stop being a London taxpayer in 15 days anyway. It's 9 miles from the 401 to Ron McNeil Line. 6 of those miles are in the city limits. By all means, let's have London spend 2/3 of the cost of widening a road that benefits London in no meaningful way. After all, London has finally completed all of its road projects and doesn't have anything left to build.

jammer139 · #10 Posted **Mar 14, 2023, 10:59 AM**

What makes you think that London will pay 2/3rds of the cost of widening Highbury? Far more likely the Prov and Feds will pay 2/3rds or all of the costs of a Highbury Ave widening.

The benefits to London of this project are huge in many other ways. Just like in the days of Ford Talbotville more then half of the employees are likely to live in London. The likelihood of some of the suppliers being in London is also high.

Shipping of critical minerals from Quebec and Northern Ontario via the rail link is also a big advantage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Sure, no problem, I stop being a London taxpayer in 15 days anyway. It's 9 miles from the 401 to Ron McNeil Line. 6 of those miles are in the city limits. By all means, let's have London spend 2/3 of the cost of widening a road that benefits London in no meaningful way. After all, London has finally completed all of its road projects and doesn't have anything left to build.

jammer139 · #11 Posted **Mar 14, 2023, 6:51 PM**

Site prep work is already starting with tree clearing crew on site now. Should see heavy equipment soon for utility and grading of site.

Djeffery · #12 Posted **Mar 15, 2023, 12:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jammer139

What makes you think that London will pay 2/3rds of the cost of widening Highbury? Far more likely the Prov and Feds will pay 2/3rds or all of the costs of a Highbury Ave widening.

Why would the feds and province kick anything in on this road? Neither are kicking in anything on rebuilding the actual 2 mile long freeway section, they sure aren't going to pay to convert a rural 9 mile long segment into 4 lanes, let alone a freeway.

jammer139 · #13 Posted **Mar 19, 2023, 4:52 PM**

Good insights into the Auto sector in terms of this plant.

https://driving.ca/column/motor-mout...omas-questions

tyeman200 · #14 Posted **Mar 28, 2023, 10:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeffery

By all means, let's have London spend 2/3 of the cost of widening a road that benefits London in no meaningful way.

Do you realize how many people travel to London from St. Thomas, and vice versa? Highbury isn't some backroad no one uses. It's a main artery to and from St. Thomas and other municipalities.

jammer139 · #15 Posted **Apr 10, 2023, 3:51 PM**

LFP article on the EV Battery tech that will change the area's economy

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...ge-our-economy

jammer139 · #16 Posted **Apr 20, 2023, 11:09 PM**

Plant announcement April 21st.

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...lant-unveiling

Djeffery · #17 Posted **Apr 21, 2023, 12:58 AM**

There's a shit ton of land there and it isn't all for this plant. If Audi hasn't announced a location yet, I wonder if St Thomas might also be in the running for that? When you consider that 3 other battery plants planned or already under construction in Ontario are at/near assembly plants, it makes sense that VW would have one of their 3 plants close to the battery plant if it's a newbuild.

MolsonExport · #18 Posted **Apr 21, 2023, 3:58 PM**

https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/...n-canada-15781

04/21/23
Volkswagen and PowerCo SE will build their largest cell factory to date in Canada

Visualization of Gigafactory St. Thomas

Quote:

The Volkswagen Group is pushing ahead with its ambitious electric vehicle (EV) strategy in North America. Its battery company PowerCo SE aims to build its largest gigafactory to date in St. Thomas, Ontario/Canada with an annual production capacity of up to 90 GWh in the final expansion phase. The planned investment of up to €4.8 billion / CAD$ 7 billion until 2030 has the potential to create up to 3,000 highly skilled jobs at the factory and tens of thousands more indirect jobs in the region. The announcement was made today in the presence of Canada’s Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, the Honourable François‑Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Ontario’s Premier, the Honourable Doug Ford, the Honourable Victor Fedeli, Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, and Joe Preston, Mayor of the City of St. Thomas.

jammer139 · #19 Posted **Apr 21, 2023, 4:43 PM**

Landing an assembly plant on the site like Audi would be amazing bonus if it happens.

CanadianTalk · #20 Posted **Apr 21, 2023, 8:39 PM**

Here is a news release from the provincial government (that coincided with today's media event): https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1...ds-of-new-jobs

Interesting piece from the release:

The Government of Ontario is investing hundreds of millions of dollars more to strengthen and grow St. Thomas and the surrounding communities. This includes infrastructure improvements to roads, railways, water, electricity, and police and fire safety.