Ten months after the cancellation of the Britishvolt project, former Liberal prime minister Philippe Couillard has become one of the leaders of a young company seeking to develop aluminum-ion batteries, we have learned The newspaper.
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“Aluminium is very abundant here. We don’t have to go to the other side of the world to find them,” the 31st prime minister told the Journal.
This young company from Montreal is called Eleqtrion. Its CEO is William Reynolds, formerly of Britishvolt, where Philippe Couillard previously worked.
At Eleqtrion, Philippe Couillard holds the position of Chief Strategy Officer.
“It’s a drum chemistry that’s still in its infancy,” he explains. He remembers that the Chinese are working on a sodium battery and that the Australians are also making one out of aluminum. New battery technologies are currently emerging.
Supply problems
According to Philippe Couillard, there will be problems with the supply of lithium and thus also with prices in the coming years. As a result, electric vehicles will still be expensive, which is why there is a lot of interest in new technologies.
According to the former head of government, aluminum is interesting because this raw material is close to us, which could help us get closer to supply chains.
“Approximately 90% of Canada’s aluminum is produced in Quebec, the fourth largest hydroelectric producer in the world,” the new company says.
Screenshot of Eleqtrion website
No factory tomorrow
He tells the Journal that Eleqtrion is neither close to selling batteries nor opening its own factory, and that the company is still in its infancy.
For this reason, the company has just entered into a partnership with the École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS).
“We played ÉTS because it is an excellent engineering school for making prototypes. We will test them and maybe show them to potential customers,” he says.
Philippe Couillard emphasizes: Eleqtrion is not a big company, it is a start-up project.
“We need to show interest from private investors before asking the government for help with existing programs,” he concludes.
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