A $7-billion electric vehicle battery plant is coming to Quebec, and one industry expert says it will be able to produce around $25 billion worth of batteries each year when fully built out.

The president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association told BNN Bloomberg that the investment by Swedish battery-maker Northvolt is an important link in EV battery supply chain infrastructure, which will be critical to Canada’s economy going forward.

“This is their first North American investment, and it's massive,” Flavio Volpe said in a television interview on Thursday.

The Quebec government is subsidizing the plant, committing up to $2.9 billion to secure the deal, while the federal government will add up to another $1.34 billion.

Volpe says that as Canada attempts to break into the global EV battery market, government subsidies are necessary to attract investment from the world’s largest companies.

“If you want to be in the big leagues, you've got to, unfortunately, pay a franchise fee,” he said. “But then it generates all kinds of incredible activity that doesn't come any other way.”

Volpe says that when fully operational, the plant will have the capacity to make roughly one million batteries per year.

“They're about $25,000 each battery, so the economic activity in the area is going to be in and around $25 billion a year,” he said, “so there is a lot of money tied to production.”

Northvolt’s facility, which will be located outside Montreal, is expected to go into production in 2026 and will employ up to 3,000 people, according to the company.