Chinese EV maker puts Ontario plan on ice

TORONTO• China’ s BYD Co. Ltd. has put plans to open its first Canadian electric-truck plant on hold but could revive the project when the electric-vehicle maker sees a business case, a company executive said.

BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., had planned to open the site this year in Ontario with about 40 workers.

“It’s just not happening right now, and we’re not necessarily waiting on anything to make it happen,” Ted Dowling, vice-president of BYD Canada said on Thursday. “When the business case makes sense, we’ll do it.”

Dowling did not give a specific reason for the decision to suspend the plan, but noted that the company had made more progress winning Canadian orders for buses than trucks.

He said BYD’s decision was not related to Ontario’s move on July 3 to scrap incentives for green vehicles and its cap-and-trade program, which required firms to buy allowances for some greenhouse-gas emissions.

Dowling expects Ontario’s new government will roll out a new program that could be better than the old scheme.

When the plan was first reported, BYD’s trucks had not been approved to operate on Canadian roads. BYD announced that approval on June 26, shortly before Doug Ford took office as Ontario’s premier.

The provincial government said in an email it had cancelled cap-and-trade to bring down gas prices and lower costs for families and businesses, and as a result the incentive program ended. Transport ministry spokesman Bob Nichols said Ontario would release a new environment plan later this month.

A new truck plant would have been a small boost to Canada’s auto industry, which has lost jobs to the United States, where governments offer manufacturers rich incentives, and Mexico, where labour costs are lower.

BYD’s assembly plant in Lancaster, Calif., started with about 100 workers in 2013, and now employs close to 1,000, Dowling said.

In July, BYD landed an order from the Toronto Transit Commission, the country’s largest transit operator, for 10 buses with an option for 30 more.

Grocery store operator Loblaw Cos. Ltd. tested BYD’s vehicles last year. Loblaw is hoping to place an order next year, it said in a statement.

Buffett bought 10 per cent of BYD in 2008 for US$230 million, and the company’s market capitalization has since topped US$20 billion, thanks to China’s booming electric-car market.