Construction of EV battery plant reaches 30% completion: NextStar Energy

Construction of the NextStar Energy EV battery plantis now about30 per cent complete, the company said Tuesday.

According to NextStar Energy, the work done so far was performed by a 100 per cent Canadian crew of 950 craft workers.

The project remains on track andthe first phase of operations, battery modular production, is set to begin in the first half of 2024, the company added.

"People driving by the facility daily are witnessing this historic building take shape as we near the end of the construction process and prepare to enter the installation process," said NextStar Energy CEO Danies Lee in a statement.

"We will have thousands of skilled experts at the site helping to build a world-class facility that will produce leading-edge lithium-ion battery cells and modules for the next generation of electric vehicles."

Lee said NextStar Energy is "grateful to the nearby businesses and residents for their patience during the construction process."

NextStar Energy is a partnership between Stellantis and the South Korean company LG Energy Solution. The plant iwill create more than 2,500 new Canadian jobs, with annual production capacity of 49.5 gigawatt hours.

The company held a "topping out"ceremony to commemorate the last structural steel beam raised in construction of the plant.

RecentlyNextStar Energy faced a majorpushback over plans to use foreign workers. The company said it will bring as many as 900workers from South Korea to Windsor to help set up theelectric vehicle battery plant, sparking backlash because of the government subsidies the plant received.