The Canadian Battery Innovation Roadmap from the Accelerate alliance is “a strategy to establish Canada as a global leader in battery technology by 2035”

The Accelerate ZEV industrial alliance has released a roadmap produced in conjunction with The Transition Accelerator detailing what Canada needs to do to maintain its pole position in the global battery supply chain.

Accelerate’s new report, titled the “Canadian Battery Innovation Roadmap,” presents an analysis of Canada’s battery ecosystem and makes recommendations for actions to increase competitiveness.

“The premise is we’ve got a really rich history of battery innovation, but the problem over time is that these innovators have failed to scale…because they haven’t really been able to access the capital and the support and the network they need to commercialize their technology,” says Matthew Fortier, president and CEO of Accelerate, in an interview with Electric Autonomy.

“We made these huge investments in batteries. To maximize the value of the factories means that we have to build an innovation ecosystem around them. That’s what’s really going to add value to the economy and really grow the battery industry in the country,” Fortier adds.

Canada at a critical juncture

The need for action is urgent, says the report, stressing both the opportunity and the chance to learn from past mistakes.

“Canada’s battery sector is at a critical juncture. Without ambitious structural changes to policy and industry, we risk losing our most promising companies and technologies,” it reads.

It recalls how Canada’s history in battery making and innovation began in 1978 with Moli Energy in Burnaby, B.C. Then, after that brief flicker, the sector went dormant. In the last few years, however, the opportunity has come to revive it and learn from the past.

“Canada has to figure out how we get more Canadian battery firms — critical minerals, battery materials and battery cell manufacturers and innovative companies. How do we get more of them up to scale and commercialize?” says Fortier.

“The more Canadian firms we have that are Canadian-based that employ Canadians, where decisions are made in Canada, the better off we’re going to be to control our own future.”

To do this the roadmap sketches out a plan focussed on two branches: innovation infrastructure (including a financial ecosystem, physical assets and skills/talent) and industrial policy (including scale-up support and IP strategy).

The report sets five major goals to meet by 2035, including:

• Invest $3 billion in battery innovation through public and private funding;
• Train and integrate over 10,000 skilled professionals into Canada’s battery industry, with at least 500 graduates annually from specialized training programs; and
• Secure 1,000 patents in battery technology by 2035.

To meet the five goals, the report presents more than 50 recommended actions across a broad spectrum, including “establishing new funding mechanisms, creating research facilities, implementing targeted industrial policies, and forming a national battery alliance.”

Key findings

The roadmap is a comprehensive view based on expert input from across the country gathered over a year. But, for Fortier, one of the strongest messages in the report is the need for collaboration.

In order for Canada to be successful in being a top battery supply chain player, government and industry need to work in sync.

The best way to do this, says the report, is to form a public-private national battery alliance.

Doing this would mimic the “laser-focused” coordination efforts already in progress in Asia and Europe, says Fortier. The alliance would bring together government, industry and academic stakeholders to share information and trouble shoot challenges in implementing the actions.

“You can have all the actions and recommendations you want, but if you don’t follow through on them, it’s not meaningful,” says Fortier.

“We just want to be putting ourselves in the best position to be successful. [This sector] really is too important to the future of the economy to not have people charged with this.”

The full roadmap my be accessed here.