Thank you for inviting me as a witness.
I'm a professor in the department of physics at Dalhousie University. I'm also chief scientific adviser to Novonix of Bedford, Nova Scotia. My research group of about 30 people is funded by Tesla and NSERC from 2016 to at least 2026 under the NSERC partnerships program.
I have been working on lithium and lithium-ion batteries since 1978. From 1985 to 1990, I worked at Moli Energy Ltd. in Maple Ridge, B.C., where we commercialized the world's first rechargeable lithium battery. We also developed lithium-ion technology that was commercialized in 1994. I am a lithium-ion battery chemistry specialist who focuses on increasing the energy density, increasing the lifetime and decreasing the cost of lithium-ion batteries.
Canada has plenty of research horsepower in the advanced battery space. World-class programs exist at Dalhousie, Waterloo, Western, NRC, Canadian Light Source, Hydro-Québec and others. Just as in other sectors, Canada lacks manufacturing.
Making a lithium-ion battery is not like making toast. For toast, one puts the bread in the toaster, pushes the button and, 90 seconds later, toast pops out. Lithium-ion batteries are made by a series of precision machines, such as electrode coaters, electrode slitters, cell winding or electrode stacking machines, electrolyte filling machines and cell formation machines, etc. The specifications and use of these machines require extensive know-how and expertise.
There are two companies in Canada that have the required know-how and that make lithium-ion batteries: Electrovaya in Mississauga and E-One Moli Energy Canada in B.C. These relatively small companies have a track record of making excellent lithium-ion batteries, which does not exist elsewhere in Canada. Electrovaya supplies forklift batteries to manufacturers like Toyota and others. E-One Moli supplies Dyson for its portable vacuum products, as well as other companies. Both of these companies have applied to the strategic investment fund to expand their manufacturing operations in Canada. Electrovaya's applications have been rejected. New York State is now wooing Electrovaya for its expansion. It appears that E-One Moli's application may be successful, but the application process started in 2019. It takes far too long. These companies should be encouraged, not discouraged, and in fact even pushed by the federal government to expand in Canada.
Moving to lithium-ion battery materials and a North American supply chain, Novonix has established a synthetic graphite manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is targeted to expand to 40,000 tonnes of graphite per year by 2025. There is access to inexpensive nuclear and hydro power from the Tennessee Valley Authority. In principle, Novonix could establish operations in Quebec, where there is also access to green hydro power. However, the incentives from the Tennessee government were very attractive. Governments must realize that it's a competition to woo companies to a particular place.
Canada has lithium, nickel, cobalt, iron, phosphorous, manganese, copper, aluminum and natural graphite, all of which are used in lithium-ion batteries. However, getting lithium and graphite from the ground to a form suitable for battery material production is not a trivial endeavour. Similarly, synthesizing cathode active materials at large scale and at low cost from the metals or metal compounds requires expertise that does not widely exist in Canada.
Government support will be required to attract partners with know-how, capital and experience to develop these resources through to value-added battery materials in Canada. The selection of these partners and the structure of the deals made to attract them will require great care.
Thank you.