Welcome to the March 2022 edition of Elasto Proxy’s EV Roundup, a summary of newsworthy items about electric vehicles (EVs). Elasto Proxy makes custom seals,  gaskets, and insulation for the EV industry and has branches in Quebec and Ontario, Canada; South Carolina, USA; and in Europe. We’re ready to support you with projects ranging from EV battery enclosures to charging stations, so tell us about your EV project.  

Quebec Strengthens EV Battery Materials Supply Chain

Automotive News reports that General Motors (GM) plans to build a $393-million cathode active material (CAM) plant in Bécancour, Quebec in a move that will reduce the automaker’s reliance on battery materials imported from Asia. CAM production is one of the key steps in preparing nickel and lithium, both of which are mined in Quebec, for use in EV batteries.

Ontario Lands Large-Scale EV Battery Manufacturing Plant

LG Energy Solution and Stellantis will invest billions of dollars to build a facility in Windsor, Ontario that will manufacture batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) in Canada. Yahoo Finance reports that it’s the largest automotive investment in the history of the province and “puts Ontario on a path to becoming one of the most vertically integrated automotive jurisdictions in the emerging North American EV market.”

South Carolina Facility to Build Battery Electric Vehicles

Freight Waves reports that a retooled South Carolina facility is where Oshkosh will build 10,000+ battery electric vehicles (BEVs) for the United States Postal Services (USPS). The first USPS BEVs are expected to enter service in late 2023. USPS chose Oshkosh Truck Corp’s Oshkosh Defense Corp. over the Workhorse Group, which claims to have more electric delivery vehicles on the road than any other company.

Europe Opens Largest EV Plant and Localizes Manufacturing

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was on-hand to celebrate the opening of the company’s new production facility in Germany. At full capacity, the plant can produce 500,000 cars annually. That’s more than the 450,000 BEVs that Tesla’s main rival, the Volkswagon Group, sold globally in 2021. As Automotive News Europe reports, Tesla can now produce cars in Europe instead of importing them from Shanghai, China.     

Aviation OEM Acquires Electric Aircraft Pioneer

Textron, an $11.7 billion U.S.-based company that owns the Cessna, Beechcraft, and Bell aviation brands, plans to acquire Pipistrel, a European company that is one of the world’s most successful manufacturers of electric aircraft. In 2020, Pipistrel’s Velis Electro become the world’s first, and currently only, electric aircraft to receive full-type certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

eVTOL Company Joby Submits Key FAA Plan  

Joby Aviation, a California-based company that’s developing an electric vehicle take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for commercial passenger service, has submitted an area-specific certification to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The plan brings Joby one step closer to receiving type certification for its aircraft so that it can demonstrate compliance with specific FAA aircraft safety standards.   

John Deere Transmission to Power Farm Implements

John Deere’s new electric variable transmission (EVT) will use electric motors instead of hydrostatic components and can send up to 100 Kw of electric power to farm implements. The Western Producer predicts that “now that a production tractor is available with the ability to off board large amounts of electricity, agriculture equipment manufacturers will quicky find use cases tor the power.”

First Fully-Electric Tractor is Also Driver Optional

Monarch Tractor is on a roll with two major rounds of investment and a licensing agreement with CNH Industrial, manufacturer of Case IH and New Holland Agriculture. As Progressive Farmer reports, the maker of the world’s first full-electric, driver optional tractor is also helping farmers to address labor shortages, a problem in both agriculture and industry.  

We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Elasto Proxy’s EV Roundup and welcome your inquiries about how we can help you with your next EV project.

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