Automotive News Canada - July 2022 - 8

8
* JULY 2022
Flo with the go in
charger expansion
Cross-border plants
to feed high demand
as EV shift 'is just starting'
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
WITH PRODUCTION OF ITS ELECTRICvehicle
charging stations ramping up
this year at new assembly plants in
Shawinigan, Que., and Auburn
Hills, Mich., the Canadian
charging company Flo will soon
have capacity to build 75,000 EV
chargers each year.
The company's rapid expansion
on both sides of the border
will give it the production
footprint to meet ballooning
demand for charging infrastructure
as the market switches to
EVs, said Flo President Louis
Tremblay.
" We definitely have everything
[we need] to grow in North
America, and the market is just
starting, " he said.
lions in funding for charging infrastructure.
Targets in the United States are only
marginally less aggressive than Canada's,
with funding for chargers to match.
'NEEDED MORE SCALE'
Flo, founded in Quebec City in 2009, is
expanding in both markets. After scaling
up across Canada, it moved into the
United States in 2018 and currently has
more than 60,000 chargers operating in
the two countries.
" The Canadian market is a great one;
it's really good for our company, "
Tremblay said. " But we
needed more scale, and the
North American market for us
was the answer. "
Demand for EVs is so great,
Tremblay said, that automakers
could produce five times the
number they are building today
and still run short of inventory.
The exuberant shift to EVs augurs well
for the charging market, with an abundance
of places to plug in seen as essential
to meeting aggressive EV adoption
targets.
In Canada, the federal government
plans to mandate that sales of all new
light vehicles be zero-emission by 2035. It
is backing the shift with hundreds of milTremblay:
Collaborating
with
competitors
to broaden
the charging
network aids the
EV transition.
SUPPLIED PHOTO
Between 80 and 85 per cent of
Flo's revenue comes from sales
of its Level 2 and fast-charging
stations, which are deployed at
homes and offices and throughout
public charging networks
from Southern California
to Gaspésie in southeastern
Quebec.
To localize and scale up production
in the United States,
Flo announced plans in June
to spend $3 million to open a
Michigan assembly plant. The
site in Auburn Hills, north of
Detroit, is scheduled to open this
fall and gradually ramp up to producing
30,000 EV chargers per year.
It will join a pair of Flo assembly
plants in Shawinigan, in central Quebec
north of Trois-Rivières, where the company
is expanding as well. Flo's second
Shawinigan plant opened in late 2021,
doubling production capacity. Once running
full tilt, the two Canadian plants will
produce 45,000 chargers a year.
Local suppliers feed charging-station parts to the Flo factories in Quebec for
assembly. SUPPLIED PHOTO
Flo carries out all the research and
development for its chargers, but it is
more of an assembler than a manufacturer,
Tremblay said. The suppliers that
feed its plants are predominantly local.
FLO relies on Quebec-made circuit boards
and sheet metal, while the power supplies
for its fast chargers are produced in the
Vancouver area.
SUPPLYING LOCALLY PAYS OFF
Localizing its supply chain paid dividends
for the company during the pandemic,
Tremblay said. As with automakers
globally, however, microchips are one
notable exception and have thrown up
hurdles, with the supply from Asia being
scarce, he said.
Along with charger sales, Flo generates
15 per cent to 20 per cent of its revenue
from software and servicing its stations.
With EVs just beginning to make up
a quantifiable portion of vehicle sales in
North America, Tremblay expects Flo to
continue growing rapidly through the
2020s.
The opportunity is considerable.
In the public charging realm alone,
Canada currently has about 16,500
charging points, according to Natural
Resources Canada. Ottawa has pledged
to back the installation of an additional
50,000 by 2030.
Goals in the United States are larger.
According to a recent International
Energy Agency report, more than
100,000 public chargers are already along
American roads. By 2030, Washington is
looking to back construction of an additional
500,000.
CAN'T GO SOLO
Flo is ready to seize the opportunity,
Tremblay said, but he knows the company
will not have the market to itself.
" We're working on the biggest challenge
of our time, which is the fight
against climate change, and it's impossible
that one company does it, " he said.
To supplement its own chargers, Flo
has " roaming " partnerships with public
charging networks, such as the Electric
Circuit in Quebec and BC Hydro EV on
the West Coast.
It also has a roaming deal with the
Campbell, Calif.-based charging company
ChargePoint that allows users of the competing
networks to plug into either's chargers.
There
are times to be competitive,
Tremblay said, but collaborating with
rivals helps ensure the EV transition
does not stall. If drivers are left stranded
because networks or chargers do not
play nice, it only sets the wider movement
back, he said.
Flo's current focus remains on Canada
and the United States, but Tremblay is not
ruling out a global rollout.
" I dream of going somewhere else one
day, " he said. " I want to help the world
meet the global fight against climate
change. But for the next coming years, we
are focusing on North America. " - ANC
Hyundai's marketing goals get an assist from the NHL
Deal with the league goes
beyond exposure at games
to connect with customers
'in meaningful ways'
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
HYUNDAI CANADA IS EXTENDING
its hockey ties to the highest level as the
brand looks for new ways to connect with
fans of the quintessential Canadian sport.
When the puck drops on the 2022-23
National Hockey League season this fall,
Hyundai will become the official automotive
partner of the NHL and National
Hockey League Players' Association
(NHLPA) in Canada, the three organizations
announced May 25.
Hyundai Canada's connection to hockey
traces back a dozen years, and the
brand is " incredibly excited " to deepen its
ties to the sport through the new partnership,
CEO Don Romano said.
" At Hyundai, we're always aiming to
connect with our customers in meaningful
ways, and this partnership with
Canada's premiere sports league takes us
to the next level of engaging not only with
our customer base but Canadians from
coast to coast who share Hyundai's love
for hockey. "
for the ride. Hyundai's luxury brand will
become the official luxury automotive
partner of both the NHL and NHLPA in
Canada beginning in fall.
No financial details about the
five-year partnership were disclosed.
The
Hyundai Canada deal " brings
together our shared love of hockey and
driving joy and access to our game at
all levels in all communities, " said the
NHL's Kyle McMann. PHOTO: LINKEDIN
The deal extends to key events such
as the Stanley Cup playoffs and the NHL
Heritage Classic, giving the auto brand
fresh media exposure. Hyundai Canada
will be granted rights to the NHL name,
logo and player usage. The agreement
also puts community engagement projects
or other collaborations between Hyundai
and the NHL and NHLPA on the table.
Genesis Motors Canada will be along
The deal builds off the brand's
12 years of grassroots hockey
support, said Christine Smith,
head of marketing at Hyundai
Canada. She pointed to Hyundai
Hockey Helpers, which provides
financial assistance to get kids
on the ice, and Hyundai's sponsorship
of Rogers Hometown
Hockey program, which covers
community hockey stories
across Canada, as two other
prominent initiatives involving
the company.
" The NHL partnership is
really the next logical step in
that strategy and those efforts
and really about moving those
efforts to the main stage ... to
shine a much brighter light on
the efforts and support for hockey
in Canada, " Smith said.
Smith: Hyundai
Canada's
partnership
with the
National Hockey
League " is
really the next
logical step "
in a 12-year
relationship that
started at the
grassroots level.
PHOTO: LINKEDIN
Hyundai's role as the official Canadian
auto partner of the NHL and NHLPA will
help the brand connect with Canadians
" at a more meaningful level than just a
transaction, " Smith said.
" We see this as a platform that will support
the entire lineup, and so we will be
leveraging the partnership throughout
all of our marketing programs, especially
during hockey season each year. "
Dealers also will have a role.
As the " gateway " into communities
across Canada, dealerships
can expect new hockey-themed
promotional materials,
retail events, viewing parties
and customer promotions, Smith
said. Leveraging the local touchpoints,
Hyundai also aims to get
dealerships involved in more
hockey outreach programs to
help a greater number of underrepresented
young people lace
up their skates and " ensure that
everyone has access to Canada's
game, " she said.
On such programs, Hyundai
and the NHL might be working
in tandem, said Kyle McMann,
the league's senior vice-president
for North American business
development.
" This partnership with
Hyundai Canada brings together our
shared love of hockey and driving joy and
access to our game at all levels in all communities, "
he said in a release. - ANC
- With files from Tim Dimopoulos
Automotive News Canada - July 2022

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