SNC-Lavalin, a professional services, engineering and project management company, has been awarded an EcoProBM contract to design and build one of Canada's largest CAM (Cathode Active Material) plants in Bécancour, Québec. The contract is worth approximately $141 million and represents SNC-Lavalin's first major mandate in the electric vehicle (EV) battery market in Canada.

"With a unique endowment of critical minerals, an established manufacturing and industrial base, and a largely decarbonized and expanding electricity grid, Canada has an opportunity to establish an end-to-end supply chain that can support the growing domestic and international demand for EVs," commented Ian L. Edwards, SNC-Lavalin president and CEO. "SNC-Lavalin is well-positioned to support governments and manufacturers and capitalize on the opportunities arising from the electric vehicle revolution, both in Canada and around the world, with our unique end-to-end capabilities spanning sectors such as mining, industrial and manufacturing, and clean energy, which support the battery and electric vehicle markets."

i SNC-Lavalin will provide EcoProBM with initial conceptual design, basic design, project management, and delivery related to plant implementation.

Active cathode material and EcoProBM plant

For electric vehicles, CAM is a key component of the battery. It accounts for about 40 percent of the cost of a battery.

EcoProBM, the world's leading producer of high-nickel active cathode materials, has formed a joint venture with Ford Motor Co. and the world's leading cell manufacturer SK On Co. to build the $1.3 billion CAM plant in the Bécancour Industrial Park, located between Quebec City and Montreal. Canada represents EcoProBM's second foreign factory. Production of the three lines is scheduled to begin in April 2026. This plant will have a production capacity of 45,000 tons per year.

"The EcoProBM team has been working with SNC-Lavalin for over 15 months on previous contracts in a fully collaborative approach. SNC-Lavalin's project team has demonstrated its know-how, vision and ability to respond and adapt to the requirements of fast-moving project objectives. Our teams collaborated on the development of all technical and planning requirements for a complete design-build expedited delivery project. We made an excellent choice in choosing SNC-Lavalin as our preferred partner for our first CAM project in North America, fully entrusting them to deliver the project according to all our expectations," said Sang-Young OH, managing director of global strategy and planning at EcoProBM .