Getting to full charge: EVs, batteries and the race for strategic advice
Flush with monies and subsidies from the Government of Canada, provincial governments and substantial foreign investments dollars from major manufacturers, such as Volkswagen (PBO), Northvolt (announced in part at a Business Sweden event we attended in Montréal, Québec, see: post) and Honda’s potential $18.4B electric vehicle battery plant in Canada, the electric vehicle (EV) sector is getting electrified, or for a lack of better words getting amped up in Canada, and MVIP is helping business and entrepreneurs capitalize.
Plugging in the numbers
In its report titled Watt’s up? Electric Vehicles and future electricity generation needs (released on January 30, 2024), Statistics Canada reports that:
“The global numbers have added a spark to a new standard recently announced by the Government of Canada, as the country aims to improve EV supply chains and infrastructure and gradually transition away from fossil fuels. Regulations will require at least 20% of new vehicles sold in Canada to be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2026, at least 60% by 2030, and 100% by 2035. ZEVs include BEVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. These regulations emphasize not only the economic significance of ZEVs but also their pivotal role in meeting Canada’s future emission targets and green-electrification objectives”
Similarly, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has also indicated in its 2023 Report that battery demand continues to rise, and more particularly states:
“Automotive lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery demand increased by about 65% to 550 GWh in 2022, from about 330 GWh in 2021, primarily as a result of growth in electric passenger car sales, with new registrations increasing by 55% in 2022 relative to 2021.”
“Battery demand for vehicles in the United States grew by around 80%, despite electric car sales only increasing by around 55% in 2022. While the average battery size for battery electric cars in the United States only grew by about 7% in 2022, the average battery electric car battery size remains about 40% higher than the global average, due in part to the higher share of SUVs in US electric car sales relative to other major markets, as well as manufacturers’ strategies to offer longer all-electric driving ranges.”
A need for green ($$) & IP
These numbers are important as it enables businesses to adjust their strategies and determine how to:
Integrate prior research and intellectual property (see our post) into new products and/or services, including the exploration of IP trends in the space;
address the federal and provincial governments evolving regulation (i.e., environmental, electricity and other) and critical mineral strategies (as we posted about here);
capture funding and/or tax credit opportunities, such as:
Canada’s zero emission vehicle infrastructure program (ZEVIP), zero-emission vehicle incentives (ZEV), $1.5-Billion critical minerals infrastructure fund, sustainable development technology canada, green funds, and Invest Québec’s battery initiative (see: here and here);
a 15 percent refundable Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit for eligible investments in technologies that are required for the generation and storage of clean electricity and its transmission between provinces and territories, which is available to taxable and tax-exempt entities;
a refundable Clean Technology Manufacturing Tax Credit to cover 30 percent of costs in new machinery and equipment used to manufacture or process clean technologies and extract, process or recycle critical minerals;
A Clean Hydrogen Investment Tax Credit to support between 15 and 40 percent of eligible projects’ costs to produce clean hydrogen;
the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Investment Tax Credit to include additional types of equipment used to capture carbon dioxide emissions for storage or other uses in industrial processes;
a refundable Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit to include geothermal energy systems, further supporting the growth of Canada’s clean technology sector.
Having worked with some of the early infrastructure builders of the Canadian charging station infrastructure, Earth Day Canada recognized MVIP co-founder David Durand’s involvement in this initiative, which allowed the not-for-profit organization to enter “...into several public and private sector agreements, including one with Sobeys Capital Inc. and its network of merchants to launch EcoCharge, which has installed 100 electric vehicle charging stations across Quebec and New Brunswick.” Earth Day Canada further states that “these agreements have also given rise to several flagship programs operated by Earth Day Canada on behalf of the Fonds Éco IGA such as Food Fight, The Travelling Jar or Action/Reduction. This has also resulted in a whole portfolio of trademarks to guarantee the environmental soundness of these initiatives.”
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