U.S. auto giant General Motors on Monday launched Canada's first full-scale electric vehicle plant at an inauguration attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, had been retooled with more than half a billion Canadian dollars ($382 million USD) from the federal and Ontario governments.
It is part of a larger Canadian EV strategy that includes both mining critical minerals such as lithium and producing EV batteries for the North American auto industry.
"Today, we're opening the first full-scale commercial electric vehicle plant in Canada," Trudeau told a news conference with GM executives.
GM Canada president Marissa West called it a "big Canadian milestone," noting that a retooling of the factory that once built gas-powered SUVs started in May and was completed in just seven months.
"Canada's EV future is no longer on the horizon. It's here and it's now," she told the factory audience, flanked by two of the new electric vans.
The plant will build BrightDrop Zevo 600 electric delivery vans. GM aims to have as many as 50,000 of them rolling off its assembly line per year by 2025.
BrightDrop also announced DHL Express was its first Canadian customer.
Copyright 2022, Agence France-Presse
