Automotive News Canada - June 2024 - 12

12
* JUNE 2024
At 500 grocery stores, shoppers will
be able to plug in while they stock up
Infrastructure project aims to
reduce range anxiety with ports
in places drivers frequent the
most, investment bank says
By GREG LAYSON
DIGITAL AND MOBILE EDITOR
CANADIAN ELECTRIC-VEHICLE CHARGING
company Flo is partnering with grocery giant
Metro to allow shoppers across Ontario and
Quebec to charge their
vehicles as rapidly as their
wallets get charged in the
express lane.
Flo, which is based in
Quebec City, will install
500 fast-charging ports at a
combined 130 Metro, Super
C, Food Basics and Marché
Adonis grocery stores
beginning in August,
according to a June 4 news
release issued by the two
companies.
Flo said " a significant
number of the new installations
are supported by
Flo's partnership with the
Canada Infrastructure
Bank (CIB). "
The federally run CIB
has committed $235 million to Flo to bring more
than 1,900 public fast-charging ports online across
Canada by 2027. But no new money was earmarked
for EV infrastructure in the 2024 federal budget.
The new stations across the grocery chain will
feature the dual-port Flo ultra-fast charger, which
the company said will charge most EVs to 80 per
cent in 15 minutes.
Metro's grocery chain will have the dual-port
Flo ultra-fast charger, which the company
said will charge most new EVs to 80 per cent
in 15 minutes. SUPPLIED PHOTO
CIB CEO Ehren Cory said installing the chargers
will help reduce range anxiety - the concern
of finding a charging station when power runs
low - which is one of the key barriers to mass EV
adoption.
" Grocery stores are essential for our daily necessities
and thriving communities. By combining
high-speed charging options for EV drivers in the
places they frequent the most, we are moving closer
to ending EV owners' range anxiety, " he said in
the release.
Flo CEO Louis Tremblay said the Metro partnership
is " laying the groundwork to accelerate the
transition " to EVs.
Flo said it currently has
more than 100,000 Level
2 and Level 3 stations
across North America.
A LONG WAY TO GO
However, the Canadian
Vehicle Manufacturers'
Association (CVMA),
which represents the
Detroit Three automakers
in Canada, said on May 15
that charging infrastructure
is woefully lacking;
from May 2023 to May
2024, about 6,000 public
EV ports were installed in
Canada.
As of press time, the
total number of ports for
Canada was about 28,650.
According to the federal government, Canada
will need 16 times that number - 455,500 public
charging ports - by 2035.
" At this pace, it will take 74 years to build the
charging infrastructure " to meet the federal government's
2035 mandate that requires all new vehicles
sold to be zero emission, said CVMA President
Brian Kingston. - ANC
Quarter-Page CANADA Auto News Ad for JUNE 2024 publication - (Due MAY. 20)
Unifor wants wage
increases and more
work for CAMI plant
Upcoming contract
discussions with
General Motors
will stress two
full-time shifts for
the underused plant
By DAVID KENNEDY
TORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
THE UNION REPRESENTING
Detroit Three plant workers
in Canada has set its sights on
higher wages and a return to
full-time work for more members
at the CAMI Assembly
Plant in Ingersoll, Ont., as the
union prepares for contract
talks with GM Canada this summer.
The
automaker's current
three-year contract with about
1,500 workers represented by
Unifor Local 88 will expire
Sept. 17, setting the stage for
another round of bargaining
following a landmark agreement
reached last year
between Unifor and the
Detroit Three automakers,
including workers
at GM's Oshawa
Assembly Plant that
builds full-size pickups.
Unifor expects early
talks with the company
to start in July, while
bargaining will begin
in earnest in London,
Ont., at the start of
September.
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SC 13120
Workers at CAMI -
originally a joint venture
between General
Motors and Suzuki
Motor Corp. when the
plant opened in 1989 -
have traditionally bargained
on a different
CAMI restarted production of
BrightDrop electric delivery
vans in April, after a stoppage
of about six months, but only
on a single shift.
PHOTO: BRIGHTDROP
" We have not been told of a
second shift yet, " Van Boekel
said. " [But] GM put a pile of
money - well over $1 billion -
into our plant. Their main goal
is to make money, so I would
expect sometime late this year
or early next year we would be
two shifts. "
The recently added battery-module
plant at CAMI is
one bright spot, he said. Located
next to the main assembly site,
the plant builds Ultium battery
modules and packs for
the BrightDrop vans at CAMI
as well as for vehicles
built at GM plants in the
United States.
The module plant is
ramping up to three full
shifts and by June will
employ more than 200
workers between production
staff and the skilled
trades.
Van Boekel:
GM needs
to provide
" some kind of
work - subassemblies
or
something
- to get our
members
working. "
FILE PHOTO
cycle from other Unifor members
at GM Canada.
Increased pay, as well as getting
a commitment from GM to
bring more of the plant's workforce
back to full time, are the
top priorities for the union, said
Mike Van Boekel, Unifor chairperson
for the plant.
" We've been rotating two
shifts for a long time now, " he
said, " so we need to talk to GM
about putting programs in place
or getting some kind of work -
subassemblies or something -
to get our members working. "
A SLOW FOUR YEARS
CAMI has faced significant
downtime over the past four
years, including a roughly
eight-month retooling project
in 2022 and a production halt
brought on by battery shortages
lasting about six months
through late 2023 and early 2024.
The plant restarted production
of BrightDrop electric delivery
vans in April, but only on a
single shift, meaning about 700
workers across CAMI's A and B
shifts are rotating work every
two weeks.
But with about 1,500
hourly employees at
CAMI building the
Chevrolet Equinox crossover
before the changeover
to BrightDrop, the
site still has a long way
to go to get all unionized
workers back on the job.
On wages, Van Boekel
said the union aims to
improve upon the pattern
deal that Unifor members
at GM Canada struck last year.
That agreement will raise pay
for workers making the top rate
by about 25 per cent over three
years, including cost-of-living
adjustments.
Local 88 might also pursue
having membership added to
Unifor's master bargaining
agreement with GM Canada.
That would put workers at
CAMI under the same contract
as GM workers at the
Oshawa Assembly Plant and St.
Catharines Propulsion Plant.
Van Boekel said the local has
not decided on that approach,
but Unifor would likely face
opposition from GM.
The automaker declined to
say whether it would oppose
Local 88 joining the master
agreement or if another shift at
CAMI would be forthcoming.
" We look forward to working
with our Unifor partners
to reach a new labour contract
for our CAMI operations, " GM
Canada spokesperson Natalie
Nankil said in an email to
Automotive News Canada.
- ANC
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Automotive News Canada - June 2024

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