Tesla Ontario is lobbying the government as part of an effort to set up an “advanced manufacturing facility” in Canada, a filing by the electric-automaker to the office of the province’s integrity commissioner revealed.
The revised filing from July 18 said the company’s Canadian unit is working with the government to “identify opportunities for an industrial facility that will allow for improvements.”
Tesla as well as Ontario’s Office of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in May that there had been “very active discussions with several players” to develop an EV supply chain in Canada.
Tesla is ramping up production last week with CEO Elon Musk shouting “Canada” to shareholders half-joking that “we have too many Canadians, I’m half Canadian, maybe I should.”
He added that the company may be able to announce a new factory later this year and eventually have 10-12 gigafactories. Tesla manufactures vehicles from two factories in the United States and one each in Germany and China.
US electric-vehicle makers are also looking to source materials and build cars to diversify supply chains and reduce their reliance on China, the world’s largest supplier of EV batteries.
Such efforts could gain momentum from a US$430 billion bill approved by the US Senate on Sunday that would allow automakers to use Chinese-made materials to phase out the required percentage of North American-sourced battery components. prohibits.
After 2023, vehicles with batteries containing Chinese parts could not receive credit, while critical minerals also faced limitations on sourcing.