Mr. Chair, members of Parliament, good afternoon.
My career in the field of electric vehicles and my connection with the United States date back 27 years to my time as senior battery researcher at Hydro-Québec's research institute.
The U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE, awarded me a number of research contracts to investigate battery materials. I worked with most of the DOE's national laboratories, including the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
I also conducted research for the United States Advanced Battery Consortium, or USABC, created by Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
From June 2020 to December 2021, I served as strategic advisor to Investissement Québec. Thanks to my international contacts and 36 years of experience with lithium-ion batteries, I was able to open doors, especially in the U.S., for Investissement Québec. I did the prospecting and accelerated recognition of Quebec's ecosystem from the mine to recycling to attract international players in the field of precursors, cathodes, anodes and cells.
It is essential that Canada and the United States collaborate extensively on a secure and stable supply chain, from mines to electric vehicles to recycling, in order to become independent from Asian suppliers and to support our local industries.
Canada has the potential to transform our critical minerals locally into active materials for cells, vehicle bodies and electric motors at low costs with zero CO2 emissions, thanks to renewable energy and hydroelectricity.
For the next 20 years, lithium-ion batteries will dominate the market for electric vehicles. Lithium-ion batteries are constituted of copper, graphite, silicon, lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, iron and phosphate. All these elements are found, for example, in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Labrador, British Columbia and Manitoba.
Canada is an attractive supplier of critical minerals for electric vehicle manufacturers in the United States and, most importantly, in Canada. The shift to electric vehicles is a great opportunity to create jobs and to revive the vehicle manufacturing industry in Canada, in particular in Ontario and Quebec.
Canada and the U.S. would benefit from launching a joint electric vehicle initiative that involves and trains human capital to address the labour shortage problem and brings together research institutes, colleges and universities, manufacturers and technologies developed in both countries through mutual licence agreements and technology transfers for the manufacturing sector.
One of the scientific and commercial success stories of the fruitful Canada-United States partnership, concerning electric vehicles and batteries, is lithium iron phosphate batteries, for which Professor John Goodenough was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2019, and which originated from a collaboration between the University of Texas and Hydro-Québec.
Today, LFP is recognized as the safest battery technology, and is notably used by Tesla. China was an early adopter of this technology for electric vehicles and busses, for which CATL and BYD are the largest producers of the cells.
Canada and the U.S. should create a scientific committee on innovation, intellectual property and industrialization to encourage the market penetration of common technologies in electric vehicle and energy storage applications. That way, the two countries could be pioneers in lithium-ion batteries and beyond to reduce the time and cost needed to develop materials for batteries, vehicle bodies and electric motors.
It is vital that the federal government and the provinces provide funding for up to 50% of battery and electric vehicle manufacturing plant proposals by making available turnkey sites, including access to water, electricity and natural gas, in strategic locations that simplify transportation logistics.
Canada must also invest to bring back a national industry of microelectronics. Chip manufacturing is essential for several electronics components in electric vehicles and batteries, such as the battery management system and the battery management unit.
Another aspect of the Canada–U.S. partnership that should be improved is harmonization and standardization of the fast and ultra-fast charging network. One key goal should be developing universal payment systems that require only a credit or debit card, as is the case with gas stations.
I would also suggest that Canada establish a strategic committee on critical minerals for battery and electric vehicle manufacturing, with an emphasis on mineral traceability, greenhouse gas emissions and respect for human rights. With minerals sourced from Canada, this committee could also develop protocols and contribute to cell and battery production technologies with the goal of producing process control machines locally in Canada and the U.S.
The two countries' incentives for purchasing electric vehicles should be harmonized until the cost of lithium-ion battery packs drops below $100 per kilowatt hour, which is parity with the cost of a gas vehicle.