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Drone Flyer
Active Member
Firstly, he's the Minister of Transport in the Government of Canada. Secondly, the government is working on a strategy to increase the number of ZEVs on the roads. According to his tweet he's there "to discuss ZEVs and their deployment". This is encouraging.
That's all great, but it should noted that Tesla doesn't do any manufacturing in Canada. I suspect that they get some parts from Magna/Multimatic/Linamar.
I'd like to see our government people pushing for some investment in a Canadian plant. Although current political reality probably isn't making that very attractive.
It may have changed since then, Rio Tinto in Saguenay, Quebec had a significant aluminum contract with Tesla. So much so that they rented a Model S to put on display outside one of their buildings in 2014.
Une belle vitrine pour l'aluminium de la région
Verbom is a company in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec which manufactures a body part for the X that you can see here:
Verbom investit 15 M$ dans son usine de Sherbrooke
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Yes, his case is one of the most perplexing of all the electro-skeptic pro-Hydrogen politcians. Since he's a Doctor in Engineering you would think he wouldn't fall for the hydrogen industrie's propaganda, but up to now his communiques appear to have been writtten by Toyota.
And that's one of the points of my comment about Cdn manufacturing. Our politicians have to toe the line for the companies that are making cars here.
Let's hope it works both ways. Elon educates Marc about the benefits of BEV tech. Marc educates Elon about Canadian mining and manufacturing. Both sides help one another and everyone benefits. Win-win!
Elon knows Canada pretty well. He lived here for a while and did his engineering degree at Queens. Apparently he considered Waterloo, but chose Queens because there were more girls there.
I'm sure that the decision to build here (or not) is based on economics and politics. And with our rather business hostile governments in Toronto and Ottawa, there is pretty much zero chance that we see a Tesla plant here anytime soon.
It's the kanji that's the giveaway...
HFCV is have-it-all idealism. It's the magical technology that will make what you're doing now clean and sustainable, so you won't have to take any action at a societal level.
Tesla needs lots of metals.
Well I met my wife at UW so there were some girls there!
Of course the decision to build or not to build will be based on economics and politics. In Ontario, while the government may be business hostile, they do love their pet green projects so who knows. Furthermore, there are 9 other provinces and 3 territories, many of which are rich in natural resources and may be more business friendly. Who knows, if NAFTA falls and Elon wants continued access to the Canadian market, it may be prudent for him to have some business presence in Canada aside from retail and charging.
At any rate, politicking requires dialogue and I'm happy to see Marc has made the effort to get down to Fremont and see what Tesla is up to.
mknox
Well-Known Member
I'm not going to name names, but while I was working in Cambridge, Ontario I came across 3 separate companies making parts for Tesla. One of them were doing so well they opened a branch office in Fremont. I suspect this is because one of the early VPs at Tesla was a former senior Toyota guy at the Toyota plant in Cambridge, and likely had a bunch of contacts.
Yes... and that's great. But those are relatively small in the greater scheme of things.
A true assembly plant can anchor the local economic base of 1st and 2nd tier suppliers, equipment and systems integrators and all manner of service and support businesses. There is no substitute.
Garneau has to support those companies that have large plants here. I hope Tesla becomes one of them some day.
Has Canada exempted the Model 3 yet from the import tax, due to its concentration of NA parts?
Also, just speculation on my part and (probably) not related to his visit, but I wouldn't be surprised if Model 3 deliveries get diverted to Canada in order to defer the U.S. tax credit expiration toward the end of a future quarter. It's an easy shipment and can be done solely via land.
Also, just speculation on my part and (probably) not related to his visit, but I wouldn't be surprised if Model 3 deliveries get diverted to Canada in order to defer the U.S. tax credit expiration toward the end of a future quarter. It's an easy shipment and can be done solely via land.
Magna is a listed Tesla supplier for S & X for some minor parts, some exterior trim, mirrors and headliners. Magna has demonstrated a three motor torque splitting system in a Model S but AFAIK Magna does not supply any electrical parts. There is not a separate directory for Tilburg so it is entirely possible that magna-steer or other magna companies supply parts specific to European cars. For that matter there may well be some Asia-specific magna contributions too. As always, Magna does not equate Canadian content, but certainly augments Canadian political influence.
Without reference to Trumpian politics, increased Canadian content for Tesla vehicles seems likely, especially as Model 3 volumes and variants rise. Beyond that Magna will be on the short list for smaller volume variants, especially because they already have BEV/PHEV production experience with BMW et al.
Of course such speculations depend on Tesla being willing to have contract production.
I think that may understate the possibilities.
First, Canada has a vast variety of complex industrial production of aluminum, more exotic metals and both precision castings and additive manufacturing, among other things;
Second, renewable energy is strongly supported and easily available;
Third, Canada has a number of outstanding tier One specialists with which Tesla already deals and which are ideal sources for growth, now that Tesla is a credible buyer;
Fourth, Canada has good supplies of several raw materials that Tesla needs;
Fifth, Canada is a major Tesla market now and is growing.
And the list goes on...
My personal favorite: Elon has already committed to Supercharge the trans-Canada Highway by the end of next year. He needs more Canadians to use those Superchargers!
Elon commits to a lot of things. Like third-party apps on the Model S, an upgraded web browser around December 2016, and 18 SuperChargers in Ontario in 2017 - of which zero have been built with the year about 80% over. What he commits to usually happens but often years behind schedule.
I would like to see them do more in Canada but unless they open plants closer to Canada does it really make sense to source a ton of parts in Canada when your factory is in Fremont, California? That makes for a very long supply chain.
It's not too bad. Certainly the Cdn$ favours Cdn suppliers right now. But that won't last forever.
The reality is that, all things being equal, any new Tesla plant would likely go into the right-to-work southeastern US states. Absent a big government cheque, there's not much good reason for Tesla to setup here right now. Our taxes are only going up, we're very pro-union and our governments are quite anti-business.
I hope so. But I'm not feeling positive.
I'm not seeing much in your shortlist that points to anything other than a few tier-one supplier deals. Sure, there's nothing wrong with a few small fish. But, if we're looking at a wholesale turnover of vehicle manufacturing, we're going to need to be pushing very hard to get in early, in order to save our auto manufacturing base. There is no substitute for the big fish.