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Volkswagen Group chooses Canada for EV battery cell manufacturing

From left: Oliver Blume, CEO Volkswagen Group; Thomas Schmall, Group Board Member Technology; Hon. François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

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Volkswagen Group announced today it has chosen St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, for its first-ever North American electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing gigafactory.

Volkswagen Group, along with its battery company PowerCo, selected the region for its production of sustainable unified cells and hopes to launch production in 2027, it said today.

The decision to expand outside of Europe and into North America helps further solidify the automaker’s plans to ramp up cell production and help support the growth of the company’s EV network in North America.

“Our North American strategy is a key priority in our 10-point-plan that we’ve laid out last year,” said Oliver Blume, CEO of the VW Group. “With the decisions for cell production in Canada and a Scout site in South Carolina, we’re fast-forwarding the execution of our North American strategy.”

Why Canada?

PowerCo. chose to settle in Ontario because of its ideal conditions and VW Group’s plans to support its build-out of EVs with battery cells. PowerCo and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed last year, as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was crafted that focused on battery value creation and raw material security, two crucial pieces of cell manufacturing.

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Canada offers a healthy supply of raw materials and wide access to clean energy, making it an ideal location for the PowerCo. factory.

North American Growth Strategy

VW Group wants to build out a full portfolio of EVs for the North American market, especially in the United States, it said. More than 25 new BEVs are set to be unveiled through 2030, and the North American market seems to be an ideal location for this growth.

“We now have the unique opportunity to grow profitably in North America and play a key role in driving the transition to electric mobility there,” COO and CFO for VW Group, Arno Antlitz, said. “Both new, major projects are integral building blocks of our ambitious growth program for the entire region. We will be able to address an even broader range of customers. Volkswagen has the right strategy, products, and scale to take a strong position in the North American market.”

Volkswagen has already ramped up the assembly of the ID.4 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and also plans to upgrade two plants in Mexico to prime them for BEV manufacturing during the second half of the 2020s.

A Head of Steam for Scout

With Volkswagen’s plans to launch the iconic Scout brand in South Carolina, the new battery cell plans for Canada will also support this. Scout operates as an independent unit within the VW Group and will be developed on a new all-electric platform that is geared toward off-road capability.

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Last week, Scout landed on South Carolina for its initial production phases, which are scheduled to begin by the end of 2026. The location was chosen due to its prowess as an automotive haven, with over 500 companies in the sector calling the state home.

Volkswagen’s Scout to build $40K electric SUV in South Carolina

Final Thoughts

The new battery cell plant is not only going to benefit the VW Group, but also the economy in Ontario, as the Honorable Vic Fedeli said, who is the region’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade.

“This historic investment by Volkswagen and PowerCo SE is a massive vote of confidence in our plan to build and will strengthen our made-in-Ontario electric vehicle supply chain to create more good-paying jobs for workers in St. Thomas and across the province,” Fedeli said. “Whether it’s investing in clean steel or unlocking the economic potential of our critical minerals, our government is on a mission to create the right conditions for businesses and workers to succeed as we build the economy of the future. Thank you, Volkswagen, for choosing Ontario.“

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk teases previously unknown Tesla Optimus capability

Elon Musk revealed over the weekend that the humanoid robot should be able to utilize Tesla’s dataset for Full Self-Driving (FSD) to operate cars not manufactured by Tesla.

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Credit: @heydave7/X

Elon Musk revealed a new capability that Tesla Optimus should have, and it is one that will surely surprise many people, as it falls outside the CEO’s scope of his several companies.

Tesla Optimus is likely going to be the biggest product the company ever develops, and Musk has even predicted that it could make up about 80 percent of the company’s value in the coming years.

Teasing the potential to eliminate any trivial and monotonous tasks from human life, Optimus surely has its appeal.

However, Musk revealed over the weekend that the humanoid robot should be able to utilize Tesla’s dataset for Full Self-Driving (FSD) to operate cars not manufactured by Tesla:

FSD would essentially translate from operation in Tesla vehicles from a driverless perspective to Optimus, allowing FSD to basically be present in any vehicle ever made. Optimus could be similar to a personal chauffeur, as well as an assistant.

Optimus has significant hype behind it, as Tesla has been meticulously refining its capabilities. Along with Musk’s and other executives’ comments about its potential, it’s clear that there is genuine excitement internally.

This past weekend, the company continued to stoke hype behind Optimus by showing a new video of the humanoid robot learning Kung Fu and training with a teacher:

Tesla plans to launch its Gen 3 version of Optimus in the coming months, and although we saw a new-look robot just last month, thanks to a video from Salesforce CEO and Musk’s friend Marc Benioff, we have been told that this was not a look at the company’s new iteration.

Instead, Gen 3’s true design remains a mystery for the general public, but with the improvements between the first two iterations already displayed, we are sure the newest version will be something special.

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Investor's Corner

Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirms bullish view on Tesla after record Q3 deliveries

The firm reiterated its Overweight rating and $355 price target.

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(Credit: Tesla)

Cantor Fitzgerald is maintaining its bullish outlook on Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) following the company’s record-breaking third quarter of 2025. 

The firm reiterated its Overweight rating and $355 price target, citing strong delivery results driven by a rush of consumer purchases ahead of the end of the federal tax credit on September 30.

On Tesla’s vehicle deliveries in Q3 2025

During the third quarter of 2025, Tesla delivered a total of 497,099 vehicles, significantly beating analyst expectations of 443,079 vehicles. As per Cantor Fitzgerald, this was likely affected by customers rushing at the end of Q3 to purchase an EV due to the end of the federal tax credit, as noted in an Investing.com report. 

“On 10/2, TSLA pre-announced that it delivered 497,099 vehicles in 3Q25 (its highest quarterly delivery in company history), significantly above Company consensus of 443,079, and above 384,122 in 2Q25. This was due primarily to a ‘push forward effect’ from consumers who rushed to purchase or lease EVs ahead of the $7,500 EV tax credit expiring on 9/30,” the firm wrote in its note.

A bright spot in Tesla Energy

Cantor Fitzgerald also highlighted that while Tesla’s full-year production and deliveries would likely fall short of 2024’s 1.8 million total, Tesla’s energy storage business remains a bright spot in the company’s results.

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“Tesla also announced that it had deployed 12.5 GWh of energy storage products in 3Q25, its highest in company history vs. our estimate/Visible Alpha consensus of 11.5/10.9 GWh (and vs. ~6.9 GWh in 3Q24). Tesla’s Energy Storage has now deployed more products YTD than all of last year, which is encouraging. We expect Energy Storage revenue to surpass $12B this year, and to account for ~15% of total revenue,” the firm stated. 

Tesla’s strong Q3 results have helped lift its market capitalization to $1.47 trillion as of writing. The company also teased a new product reveal on X set for October 7, which the firm stated could serve as another near-term catalyst.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s xAI becomes Memphis’ 2nd largest taxpayer in just one year: report

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is reshaping Memphis’s economic landscape.

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Credit: xAI

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is reshaping Memphis’s economic landscape. In just twelve months, the company has become the city and county’s second largest taxpayer.

The update was related in a report from The Wall Street Journal.

Memphis’ second-largest taxpayer

xAI is currently transforming a defunct Mississippi power plant into a crucial hub for AI, supplying electricity to its Colossus supercomputer cluster and its successor, Colossus 2. Together, the Colossi supercomputers will host more than half a million Nvidia chips that would be used for the development and improvement of Grok, xAI’s large language model. 

The buildout has injected billions into the region, making xAI one of Memphis’s most significant private investors and a symbol of the city’s high-tech aspirations. Bill Dunavant III, a Memphis businessman who sits on the board of directors of the city’s chamber of commerce, highlighted xAI’s contribution to the city’s economy in a comment to the WSJ

“In one year, xAI has become the second largest taxpayer in the city and county after FedEx,” he said. A spokesman for the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce has also stated that xAI has demonstrated “substantial economic commitment to our region, without any tax incentives.”

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Not without controversy

Despite the economic boost, xAI’s footprint has drawn scrutiny. The company’s natural-gas-powered turbines are expected to consume a substantial amount of water and electricity. Critics have also expressed worries about pollution and increased utility costs, though others see Musk’s wastewater recycling plans and cleanup initiatives as meaningful offsets.

As per the WSJ, xAI’s positioning in the market may be quite different than what Musk is typically used to, considering that the CEO tends to become a first mover in key industries, such as the EV segment with Tesla and private spaceflight with SpaceX. With xAI, however, he is catching up to competitors, the most notable of which is a company he co-founded, OpenAI, and its ubiquitous large language model, ChatGPT.

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