- Graphite producer Vianode may be building a large-scale plant in Canada
- The Norway-based company will supply General Motors, among others
- Nothing’s confirmed, but a job posting mentions the plant will be north of the border
Could Canada be in the running for a new battery materials plant? While nothing’s carved in stone, there are signs that Vianode, a synthetic graphic manufacturer based in Norway, is looking to build a facility that would have a Canadian flag flying out front.
In mid-January, Vianode issued a press release stating that it has been selected “as a strategic supplier of high-performance anode graphite solutions to General Motors.” The agreement, which Vianode said has a US-dollar multi-billion value for the Norwegian company, “covers development of large-scale manufacturing capacity and supply of synthetic anode graphite towards 2033.”
Vianode has been producing graphite at a pilot plant in Norway since 2021, and after a years-long process to ensure it met performance and validation requirements, went to full-scale production in the second half of 2024. It said it now plans to ship graphite “from its large-scale plant in North America with production starting in 2027,” and it will go to GM’s Ultium Cells LLC, its joint venture with LG Energy Solution that makes EV batteries and drive units for General Motors’ electric vehicles. The agreement apparently allows Vianode to sell its graphite to other companies as well, and its goal is to supply materials for three million EVs per year by 2030.
According to a report by Automotive News Canada, Vianode is in the “advanced stages in the site selection process for North America,” and that the plant will be within the “proximity of the U.S.-Canadian automotive cluster,” although the exact location won’t be made public for a couple of months.
That proximity to automakers could mean south of the border, of course; but in a job posting found on LinkedIn, Vianode is looking for a communication manager who will play “a crucial role in shaping our global narrative and internal culture by connecting our Norwegian headquarters, existing facilities, and our exciting new large-scale plant in Canada.” (Italics ours.)
The Automotive News Canada story also revealed that Vianode created a Toronto-based Canadian subsidiary last summer; and that since 2023, it has been talking to the Canadian government about grants available to companies producing critical minerals.
Vianode said that, by weight, anode graphite is the largest component of a lithium-ion battery; and its synthetic graphite production has a 90% lower CO2 footprint than natural graphite, which is typically mined from rock formations.
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