Inmotive’s Suzuki deal sets stage for Canada’s EV manufacturing growth
by Sadi Muktadir
Inmotive was also asked about why large automotive manufacturers like Toyota or Honda were not making large-scale investments in Canada like they are in Ohio and other U.S. states.
Inside an ingear transmission (credit: Inmotive Inc.)
On Jan. 10, Inmotive Inc. announced a R&D deal with Suzuki Motor Corp. for the manufacturing of ingear electric vehicle transmissions in Suzuki’s future vehicles.
Canadian Manufacturing asked Paul Bottero, CEO of Inmotive, was asked about how this deal came together.
“We’ve been around since 2010, working as a design and R&D firm, working on ingear transmissions for electric vehicles. We’re trying to commercialize that technology broadly across the automotive manufacturing industry. We also want to scale this technology up and down, to motorized scooters, and trucks and buses as well,” says CEO Paul Bottero.
When asked what the focus now is in 2023, with the Suzuki deal now in place, Paul said “the primary focus is on executing on this project with Suzuki Motor Corp. However, we’re working with other OEMs and automotive manufacturers as well.”
The electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain is a key focus for the Canadian government, as they’ve gone on trade missions to Japan and the U.S., to tout the benefits of Canada’s clean energy supply and raw minerals.
“From our perspective, government support is important to see the burgeoning electric vehicle manufacturing space grow. The government has been quite supportive of our efforts in Ontario,” says the CEO.
Inmotive was also asked about why large automotive manufacturers like Toyota were not making large-scale investments in Canada like they are in Ohio and other U.S. states.
“I’m not going to speculate as to why companies like Toyota or Volkswagen aren’t investing more broadly in Canada, that’s a question for them. I will say that Inmotive is excited about the Suzuki relationship, and also expects to be making other announcements in the future as well with other carmakers.”
Inmotive was also clear in describing what attracted Suzuki to Inmotive’s ingear electric transmission.
“Suzuki understands the benefits of our product,” says Paul. “A high-efficiency multi-speed transmission can enable low-cost electric mobility. This is really important as the electric vehicle industry continues to grow, especially as commuter cars transition to electric models, technologies like the ingear transmission will be required to bring down their cost and make them competitive with ICE vehicles.”
Inmotive was also asked when their ingear transmission could be found in Suzuki’s electric vehicle, and the CEO said that he wasn’t able to comment on the specifics of the relationship.
R&D companies like Inmotive are critical to watch as they announce OEM partnerships to help the burgeoning Canadian electric vehicle manufacturing industry grow in 2023.
