Green Battery Production

Québec Takes the Lead

Providing a stable, reliable supply
from North America to the world
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A government strategy to develop the battery sector dating
back to 1979
Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy: aimed at
stimulating the responsibly sourced critical minerals
offering
2030 Plan for a Green Economy: intended to bolster
resilience to climate change
Québec Plan for the Development of Critical and
Strategic Minerals 2020–2025 (QPDCSM): plan to
develop critical and strategic minerals

Support for innovation: Québec has invested in battery

R&D since 1979 through Hydro-Québec

Formulating a proactive strategy for the

comprehensive development of the battery supply
chain within Quebec: financial incentives, assistance
programs, establishment of innovation zones and industry
clusters to support the industry

Source: Government of Canada; Government of Québec; Ministère de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et de l'Énergie; Hydro-Québec
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Why develop the Québec battery industry?

Hydro-Québec has the World-class innovation hub, Nearly 30% cost advantage on
distinction of generating almost with more than 40 research salaries for employers in the
100% of its electricity from organizations, including Hydro- battery industry
renewable sources and an Québec’s Center of Excellence
exceptionally reliable system

Abundant natural resources Offers a strategic position on the Strong government support
essential to battery North American EV market, with and many attractive tax credits
production: lithium, graphite, intermodal transportation and incentives
titanium, phosphate, cobalt, etc. services and numerous free-
trade agreements
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Some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions by kWh of

electricity generated in North America
Carbon intensity of the energy supply in
gCO₂eq/kWh*, selected provinces and states,
2019–2021 average

221

165 Hydro-Québec, a Crown corporation,

154 is one of the largest global
143
producers of hydropower
99% of electricity generated in Québec
is from clean, renewable sources

47
29

Québec Ontario Michigan Ohio Georgia Kentucky

*Grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilow att-hour of electricity, Average emissions per year between 2019 and 2021;
Carbon Intensity: Value used to assess the environmental impact of different methods of electricity production
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA); Electricity Maps; Hydro-Québec.
Local and ethical mining of mineral resources to secure the 5

battery supply chain

Summary map of selected mineral resources, Eastern Canada
One of the largest
Ni Som e non-mining facilities
Nickel
global producers 1. First Cobalt Refinery
2. Silicon quarries
3. Aluminum manufacturing plants New foundland
4th in aluminum Fe Québec and Labrador
Iron
production
(Québec) 2
C Manitoba 3
6th largest Carbon

lithium reserves 3
3 3
(Canada) Co Ontario Prince
Edward
3 3 Island
Cobalt 3
6th in nickel 2 New Nova Scotia
Brunswick
production 3
(Canada) Li 3
Lithium 1
2
7th in cobalt
production Si Montréal

(Canada) Silicon
Reserves and primary resources Legend:
9th in iron (in tonnes)

production
Mn More than 1,000,000
Production
Manganese Development
Betw een 100,000 and 1,000,000
(Canada) Less than 100,000 Non-mining facilities
Non-exhaustive map, for illustration purposes only

Source: Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts du Québec, Producing Mines and Mines in Care and Maintenance; AluQuébec, Sites des producteurs d’aluminium primaire au Québec, 2023; Gov ernment of Canada, Minerals and Mining; Natural Resources Canada, 2023.
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More than 40 R&D centres across the entire battery value

chain
Examples of research centres and consortiums Hydro-Québec’s Center of Excellence in
Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage
• One of 10 global leaders in lithium-ion battery intellectual
property. Over 250 scientific publications by more than
100 researchers with possible exclusive rights
LiBTec
industrial • Portfolio of more than 2,000 patents, including more than 110
specific to batteries, with more than 60 licences awarded
R&D group
• Collaboration with renowned
local and international partners,
such as the U.S. Army Research
Laboratory and the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory

© Hydro-Québec

Source: IREQ; Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage.

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Strategic location in the automotive manufacturing and

batteries corridor in the Eastern U.S.
Through CUSMA, CETA, CPTPP, CKFTA (South Key North American equipment manufacturer
Korea) and 10 other free-trade agreements in force* clusters within a 2,000 km radius
C n

ancouver Québec
Preferred access to the economy of 50 countries,
representing the majority of global GDP ille de Québec
oronto
Montréal
C icago oston
San rancisco étroit
t ts nis Ne or

The IRA advises American OEMs to prioritize batteries Nas ville

from regions with active free trade agreements os ngeles

Miami
exi ue

Only Canada has free-trade

agreements with every country in the G7 Clusters of equipment manufacturers, such as:

* Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Canada-Korea Free Trade
Agreement (CKFTA).
Source: World an , “G P per capita”, 2019; U.S. Census ureau, U.S. Population, 2020; Global ffairs Canada, “ rade and investment agreements”.
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A strategy for green, responsible battery manufacturing

Examples of responsible circular initiatives
• Using renewable sources: Electricity nearly 100% Lithium
generated from renewable sources • Transformation by green electrolysis and closed-loop process

• Key local resources: Québec has major reserves of • One of the largest lithium deposits in the world

lithium and other materials for battery production

• Commitment to sustainability: Québec adopts Recycled materials (Ni, Co, Mn, Li)
responsible manufacturing practices and strict • 95% of battery components recycled using a hydrometallurgical
environmental regulations process
• Stable production: Québec’s political environment is • Rare earths recycled using a sustainable process
stable and its workforce is skilled in efficient production • Mine tailings used to produce magnesium oxide

Graphite
Global Battery Alliance: • Graphite used to produce carbon-neutral anode
• The Government of Québec is a member and Québec Innovative waste management; waste collected and sold as by-
companies are involved (e.g., Nouveau Monde, Optel, products
NanoOne) in this initiative for green battery production, Silicon
traceability in production and respect for human rights • One of the major suppliers of metal silicon worldwide
• Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) technology used to produce
advanced material powders
Source: Hydro-Québec; Global Battery Alliance; company w ebsites.
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GM and POSCO: Ford investing in Québec
cathode material processing • Partnership between Ford, Ecopro BM
• Partnership between GM and POSCO and SK On for a cathode plant
Major innovative (Ultium CAM) for Ultium batteries • The project, estimated at more than
projects in the Québec • $300M government contribution $1.2B, will receive $644M in financing,
(Canada and Québec) shared equally between the federal and
battery sector • The project is estimated at more than provincial governments
$600M

Vale-GM partnership in Québec Nemaska Lithium: Northvolt: fully integrated factory in

• The two parties signed an agreement for lithium hydroxide production Montérégie
the long-term supply of nickel sulphate • First lithium hydroxide production plant • The project will have an annual battery
• Vale will provide 25,000 metric tons of in Canada, with production capacity of cell production capacity of up to 60 GWh
nickel sulphate, which is enough to 32,300 tonnes • It will be able to power around one
power 350,000 EVs per year • ord ill become Nemas a it ium’s million electric vehicles a year
first client

Source: Government of Québec; Company w ebsites

Investquebec.com

Downtown Montréal