Electric school bus maker Lion Electric has suspended manufacturing at its Joliet, Illinois facility after laying off nearly four hundred workers – more than half its global employees. The company hopes Canadian real estate developers Groupe Mach can save the day.
The remaining 300-off Lion Electric employees are working to manage the company’s ongoing operations – including sales, deliveries, and customer service – while the executive team engages Groupe Mach in discussions to provide more funding to the cash-strapped electric bus manufacturer.
The 900,000 square-foot Joliet factory opened in July 2023, and is the largest all-electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicle assembly plant in the US. At full capacity, the plant is capable of churning out some 20,000 electric vehicles annually.
Groupe Mach and the Ontario-based Mirella & Lino Saputo Foundation were part of a group of investors that bought $90 million of equity in Lion Electric back in 2023, but Canada’s Financial Post reports that Mach will only step in if the Saputo family are also willing to put more cash to help bail the company out.
Financial Post said their source spoke on the condition of anonymity, as the talks are ongoing. The National Bank of Canada, and other Lion stakeholders, have given the temporary help to get through the next two weeks, suspending payments on a line of corporate credit line until Dec. 16, giving the troubled bus company nearly two weeks to source additional funds.
In addition to school buses, Lion Electric also manufacturers battery-electric Class 6 and 8 commercial trucks, and delivered the first all-electric tow truck in North America to a Canadian customer earlier this year.
Electrek’s Take
This is tough news for the industry. Especially as someone who lives near Lion Electric’s Illinois facility and who’s traveled there many times and made a few friends there, I’m hoping the company gets the help it needs to keep going – they seem so close to making it, and a few well-timed POs could make all the difference Lion needs to keep on trucking busing.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Financial Post; Lion Electric, via California HVIP.