Costs in Bécancour less than a year after the announcement of an important complex and the abandonment of the electric shift in Ontario: we finally know the real reasons at the origin of the Ford’s U-turn in the Quebec battery sector.
History so far
- August 2023: Ford, Ecopro BM and SK are announced an investment of 1.2 billion to build a factory of cathode materials in Bécancour.
- 2024: In April, the construction of the factory was suspended for the first time. After the work at the end of May, a new break comes in August, due to the slowdown in the demand for electric vehicles. In October, Ford confirms its withdrawal from the project. Ecopro remains prime contractor.
- February 2025: The promoter confirms that a third judgment is scheduled for May.
These elements, which appear in a report prepared by high federal officials obtained by The press under the Access to information laware much more precise than the responses provided by the automaker and its former partners for a year.
Small step back. Last October, the Blue Oval giant confirms what had become a secret of Polichinelle. It makes it officially withdrawing a 1.2 billion project providing for the construction of battery materials in the Bécancour industrial park-cradle of the Quebec batteries’ ecosystem-through a joint venture with South Korean companies Ecopro BM and SK on.
The reasons mentioned by Ford were rather vague at the time.
“After having assessed the evolution of electric vehicle technology, the costs and needs of our company, we decided not to participate in this joint venture as a minority stakeholder,” said the multinational declaration of the time.
Brake of the electric turn
The document produced by the Office of the Privy Council – the role of which is to provide non -support advice to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet – prepared last December sheds another light.
This report had been produced for a meeting with representatives of Ford, General Motors (GM) and Stellantis and members of the federal government.
“This decision [à Bécancour] following […] to cost overruns and Ford’s decision to turn away from the production of electric vehicles in its Oakville factory, ”it can be read in the document.
In Ontario, the brake of the electric shift which was preparing for the Ford factory in Oakville had been confirmed in August 2024, a few months before the manufacturer’s withdrawal from Bécancour. The American manufacturer will rather invest 3.2 billion in its Ontario factory in order to build Super Duty vans rather than electric vehicles.
As these lines were written, Ford had not responded to an email from The press aimed at obtaining more details.
Cost exceedances
The government report thus reveals that the cathode factory project-the positive pole of a lithium-ion battery found in electric vehicles-1.2 billion in Bécancour in August 2023 came up against cost exceedations barely a year after its confirmation in great pomp, in August 2023.
The Legault and Trudeau governments offered 640 million to finance the construction of the Cathode factory. This government aid is divided into equal parts. However, nothing has been spent so far.
Photo Hugo-Sébastien Aubert, the press archives
The structure of the factory in which Ford was to invest has emerged from the ground in Bécancour.
In Bécancour, Ecopro BM remained project manager of the Cathode materials factory project. The catch is that it must now find new customers, which is rather difficult in the current context.
“Given the current slowdown and pricing problems, we temporarily suspended certain non -essential activities,” said Ecopro, last February.
An “unshakable” commitment
If the structure of the factory has recently been completed, the site is now stopped for several months. Despite this step back, the project promoter hammers that his commitment to Quebec remains “unshakable”.
When announcing the billionaire site piloted by Ecopro BM in the Bécancour industrial and port park, production would start in the first six months of 2026.
This schedule will probably be pushed up to less than one surprise. A project that is delayed generally sees its invoice climbing, especially due to inflation.
With William Leclerc, The press
