Toronto – On Tuesday, Mercedes-Benz Group AG and the Government of Canada signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore deeper cooperation across all stages of the EV supply chain – from technical development and the extraction of raw materials to production, service life, and recycling.
The purpose of the MoU is to promote cooperation and to explore ways to advance opportunities across Canada’s EV supply chain, including, but not limited to securing sustainable sources of raw materials – given Canada and Mercedes-Benz’s mutual commitments to sustainable development and climate protection and their investments towards a cleaner and greener economy of the future.
“Mercedes-Benz is looking to open new ways to responsibly acquire raw materials to rapidly scale up electric vehicle production. Securing direct access to new primary and sustainable sources of raw materials is a vital step down this road. With Canada, Mercedes-Benz has a strong and capable partner to break new ground for a new era of sustainable transformation in the automotive industry,” said Markus Schaefer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Chief Technology Officer, responsible for Research & Development and Procurement.
Also announced this week, Volkswagen AG and the Government of Canada came together with the aim to promote e-mobility in the country and to explore opportunities across Canada’s EV supply chain. This was agreed in a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU) signed today in Toronto by Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess and Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Both parties will investigate opportunities for Canada to contribute to Volkswagen’s global and regional battery supply chains. PowerCo, the newly founded battery company of the Group, has a central role in these efforts and will drive forward the planned cooperation in the fields of battery value creation, raw materials supply chains and cathode material production in the North American region.
PowerCo SE is responsible for all global Group activities along the battery value chain, securing battery cell supply for Volkswagen’s e-mobility push. The rapidly growing global battery cell business is a key pillar of Volkswagen’s NEW AUTO strategy, which aims to make Volkswagen the leading provider of sustainable and software-driven mobility. The plan is to quickly build up highly standardized cell production capacities totaling 240 gigawatt hours per year in Europe alone. In addition, there are plans to establish a dedicated gigafactory in North America. Possible production sites are currently being examined.
Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany: “I welcome that Volkswagen and Canada have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on battery value creation today. This is excellent proof that the cooperation with our close friends and allies in Canada is further deepening also in the context of raw material security and may encourage other companies to follow.”
Tags: EV Supply Chain, VW, Mercedes-Benz
