Volkswagen Group Canada CEO Pierre Boutin couldn’t say much about the auto giant’s hunt for a North American electric vehicle battery plant when he spoke to the Star in January. He confirmed Canada was on the list, but the negotiations were well above his pay grade. In fact, at the time, Volkswagen was scrutinizing the details of what would become the winning bid for Volkswagen’s first EV battery plant outside of Europe — its $7-billion, St. Thomas, Ont., facility announced in May. It’ll be run by PowerCo SE, a company started by Volkswagen to run its entire battery business. Both…