CTC #63 - Canada charges ahead on EV targets

Hey there,

Welcome to the final issue of Climate Tech Canada for 2023! We’ll be back in action in early January on our usual schedule.

This week in climate tech:

• Canada electrifies new car sales

• Louélec snags expansion funding for EV rental platform

• Deep Sky adds more carbon removal tools to its toolbelt

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💰 Funding

🚌 Electric bus manufacturer NFI Group (Winnipeg, MB) received a $10M interest-free loan from economic development agency PrairiesCan.

• It’s been a tough couple of years for NFI, largely due to pandemic-induced supply chain issues. The company took on $187M in financing from EDC in Jan of this year to help stay afloat.

• The funding will be used to expand NFI’s product offering and modernize production facilities.

🚕 Louélec (Montreal, QC) received $3M from Desjardins to expand its electric car-sharing platform. The funding will be used to buy 400 EVs, bringing the total fleet just shy of 1,000 cars.

• The company rents its cars to Uber drivers in Montreal and Toronto to help them cut fuel costs and command premium prices for EV rides on the app.

• In addition to ride-shares, the company is deploying car-share services with real estate developers, hotels and institutions like seniors homes and universities.

📈 Milestones

💨 Deep Sky adds two new carbon dioxide removal (CDR) partners for its Alpha Lab test facility. The company is positioning itself as a carbon removal project developer, partnering with technology companies around the world to test and scale CDR pathways.

• Carbon Atlantis, based in Germany, circulates a liquid solvent (a material that soaks up CO2) through its system and separates it using electricity.

• ReCarbn, based in the Netherlands, uses a circulating mechanism for its carbon-capturing sorbents vs conventional methods that use fixed beds.

• Deep Sky will validate performance for commercial deployment

🔋 NanoXplore successfully launched a pilot production line for their anode materials technology. The pilot line produces three graphite-based anode products used in EV or energy storage batteries and can produce 200 tonnes / year. NanoXplore claims their tech can deliver a high energy density of 1150 Wh/L (vs ~450 Wh/L in a typical lithium-ion pack).

🏛️ Policy

⚡️ Canada will require all new passenger cars to be zero-emissions by 2035 under the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard. The rules set interim goals of 20% by 2026 and 60% by 2030. The goal is to reduce emissions (transport makes up 25% of Canada’s emissions), increase production, and drive down prices.

• Zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales passed 12% in Q3, a new high that saw 22% QoQ growth.

• A sales mandate could spur 20% lower prices as automakers are pushed to deliver affordable models.

• The system baked in some flexibility with a credit system, where companies that surpass their ZEV targets or invest in charging can sell credits to lagging companies.

⚛️ New Brunswick is betting big on nuclear in it’s new 12 year plan to become carbon neutral. The province expects 60% of new grid generation to come from Small Modular Reactors.

• Another example of a strong shift towards nuclear. For NB, a big selling point is energy independence, relying less on energy imports from QC and Maine.

• Moltex and ARC Clean Technology are developing SMR projects in the province.

🛢️ COP 28 signed a landmark agreement calling for a transition away from fossil fuels. The watered-down language may be cause for pessimism, but if you zoom out, we went from nothing, to Paris, and now fossil fuels are included in a COP agreement for the first time. It’s maybe not as fast as we need, but that’s momentum.

📌 Jobs

Check our job board for postings from Canadian climate tech companies, featuring roles in Data Science, Marketing, Business Development, HR and more!

➡️ Hiring? List your posting here.

Thanks for reading and have a great holiday break!

Justin