Premier Doug Ford gushed with praise for the management team at NextStar Energy during the plant's grand opening on Thursday.
"I've been into thousands, not hundreds, thousands of companies around the world, around North America, I've never seen technology like this in my life," he exclaimed. "And it was worth every single penny."
The plant is a $5-billion investment.
Ford was joined by Federal Industry Minister Melanie Joly, Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli, Unifor National President Lana Payne and officials from LG Solutions in Korea.
The plant met a series of milestones even before Thursday's celebration, including expanding production to ESS batteries in November and the production of its one-millionth battery cell last month.
Also in November, LG Energy Solutions took over full ownership of the plant from Stellantis.
So far, the plant has hired 1,300 of the 2,500 workers it plans to hire when production ramps up.
"We have a big trust in the EV sector. We need to put all hands together to promote EV, so we can put together a good cycle of the supply chain," said CEO Danies Lee.
Ford said it's more than just batteries for vehicles. He said other provinces should buy energy storage batteries too.
"Buy the batteries here off NextStar and follow the legislation, which I believe the federal government has, you have to buy Canadian," said Ford.
The 4.23-million-square-foot plant on Banwell Road is the largest and most advanced electric battery plant in North America.
