The Lion Electric Company, a Canadian-based manufacturer of all-electric medium and heavy-duty urban vehicles serving the North American market, announced that it has received a conditional purchase order for 1,000 all-electric Lion school buses from Student Transportation of Canada (STC), a subsidiary of Student Transportation of America (STA). STA is controlled by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), the province’s pension fund manager.
The purchase order is conditional upon the satisfactory grant of non-repayable contributions to STC under Infrastructure Canada’s Zero-Emission Transit Fund (ZETF), for which STC has filed a formal application. Under the ZETF program, the Government of Canada aims to invest $2.75 billion over five years to support public transit and school bus operators in the transition to electrification.
Lion Electric (TSX:LEV) was up $1.74 or 11.8 per cent to $16.49 on the news. If confirmed, this purchase order would allow STC to become the largest operator of zero-emission school buses in North America.
Deliveries would begin in 2022 and occur through the first half of 2026. These electric buses would replace existing diesel vehicles within STC’s Canadian fleet.
Lion estimates that the deployment of 1,000 all-electric school buses would help eliminate approximately 23,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, in addition to significantly reducing noise pollution for the communities in which they operate.
Lion Electric creates, designs and manufactures all-electric class 5 to class 8 commercial urban trucks and all-electric buses and minibuses for the school and mass transit segments.
Student Transportation of America operates more than 16,000 vehicles throughout the Canada and the U.S.A.
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