Discussions between the federal government and Stellantis to settle financial issues around the future of the NextStar EV Battery plant in Windsor have been taking place since August 2022.
Before the issue became public on May 12, Stellantis and LG Energy Solution sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on April 19.
The letter obtained by AM800 News requests Trudeau's "urgent attention and assistance in executing the Special Contribution Agreement that we have negotiated extensively over the past several months with your government and which was finalized at the end of February 2023 related to our $5B joint venture battery investment in Windsor."
The letter from Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and LG Energy Solution CEO Young Soo Kwon mentions "regular and very collaborative discussions since August 2022 when the issue of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act first came to our collective attention with efforts to address the competitive gap posed by the U.S. legistlation."
The letter makes note of five separate written documents confirming the government's committment to match the production incentives and that they have conveyed on numerous occasions the urgent need to have the Special Contribution Agreement signed by Canada to close and fund the joint venture.
The CEOs say "we have delayed the joint venture closing pending the receipt of the signed Special Contribution Agreement by your government, but continued delay in excuting this agreement is bringing significant risk to the project."
The letter to the prime minister goes on to say "In the event our agreement is not promptly executed, we will be forced to make difficult decisions regarding this project and other respective investments in Canada in order to deliver on our commitments to bring new technology to the North American market."
Both Stellantis and L-G announced in March 2022 that they were investing $5-billion to build a joint lithium-ion battery production factory in Windsor.
Construction has been ongoing for months at the site of the plant, but since the funding issues went public, certain elements of construction at the site have been halted.