In addition to “favoring” the Lion Electric Company with an “unfair” program to intensify school transportation, the Legault government is placing almost all of its eggs in the same basket at a time when builders are having difficulty delivering the goods due to delays. supply challenges, argues the US giant Navistar.
Like Girardin Blue Bird, Autobus Thomas and Leed Autobus Transit, the Illinois-based truck and engine manufacturer is trying to convince Quebec to relax the terms to allow its school buses assembled in the United States to ” be eligible for grants.
Through its Canadian division, Navistar did more than criticize a “significant trade barrier” to the program. It also raised doubts about Lion’s ability to meet its delivery deadlines as supply difficulties hit all companies.
In a document sent among others to the Ministry of Transport (MTQ) that Press was able to consult, the American manufacturer mentions in particular the shortage of semiconductors, components found in electronic chips essential to the operation of certain modules.
We must also take into consideration that the manufacture of electric vehicles requires parts produced all over the world. Navistar’s purchasing power […] will nevertheless allow us to guarantee a supply of these vital components. Will this be the case for a company that has only just started producing such vehicles?
Extract from the Navistar document sent to the Quebec Ministry of Transport
Quebec announced last April an envelope of 250 million to speed up the arrival of 2,600 new school buses on the roads within three years. This included measures to amortize costs. A diesel school bus costs almost $ 100,000 while the electric version sells for around $ 300,000.
To be eligible for a financial boost, the vehicle must have been assembled in Canada. This is a measure to promote local production, such as we find in the United States, for example.
Lion is the only company to assemble type C and D electric buses (the most popular models) in Quebec. Girardin benefits from an easing for 200 buses, which come from south of the border. This is not the case with Thomas Bus, a division of Daimler, and Leeds Transit, affiliated with Navistar.
For months, these actors have been trying to convince Quebec to change its mind. A sign that Navistar does not intend to let go, the company renewed, at the end of October, its registration in the Quebec Lobbyists Registry in order to continue to put pressure on the Legault government.
Pitfalls
For now, Lion appears to have been spared the semiconductor crisis.
However, the Saint-Jérôme company was unable to complete the assembly of about 50 vehicles in the third quarter ended September 30 because it had difficulty obtaining parts deemed “less essential” such as metal modules. , plastic components and wire harnesses.
“We were taken a little short,” agreed the president and founder of the company, Marc Bédard, during a telephone interview with Press, on November 11, on the sidelines of the results release. “It might happen again. I don’t know how far it’s going to go in 2022, but in Q4 it will definitely have an impact. ”
Year in and year out, the renewal of the school bus fleet is carried out at a rate of 800 to 1,000 new vehicles. Lion claims to be able to deliver the goods.
Navistar sees things differently, however.
Lion will need to deliver between 600 and 800 vehicles per year. Such an order for a company which has delivered only a few dozen vehicles over the past year appears to us not only excessively ambitious, but risky for them. [transporteurs] and passengers.
Extract from the Navistar document sent to the Quebec Ministry of Transport
The plea of the American manufacturer and the repeated demands of the school bus distributors do not seem to make the Legault government bend.
In an email, Claudia Loupret, press secretary to Transport Minister François Bonnardel, said the program “was not linked to a single manufacturer”.
“We are at the start of a program which has ambitious electrification objectives and it is for this reason that manufacturers have 12 months following the filing of the request for financial assistance to deliver the vehicle”, a- she writes.
Since 1er November, school carriers are required to purchase electric school buses.
130
Of the 10,000 school buses in Quebec, there are about 130 powered by electricity, according to government data.
Groupe Autobus Séguin will expand its fleet of electric school buses with a new order for 55 vehicles from the Lion Electric Company. This contract is conditional on obtaining incentive benefits offered by Quebec and Ottawa. Autobus Séguin announced the purchase of 60 school buses last January.
Around the BIC to offer millions for school transport
The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) will put $ 400 million on the table to encourage school carriers to accelerate the conversion of their school bus fleets to electric to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse, learned Press.
This announcement will be made this Friday by the agency, in Beaupré near Quebec, as part of the annual meeting of the Federation of Bus Carriers.
The money will be offered through long-term, low-interest loans to reduce the cost of acquiring these vehicles which sell for around $ 300,000, or three times the price of a diesel bus.
In total, some 4,000 zero-emission school buses are expected to travel faster on the province’s roads over the next five years, according to Ottawa.
“This is the largest school bus conversion in the history of the country,” said a source familiar with the matter, but who is not authorized to speak publicly.
The fact remains that a school carrier who wishes to obtain a subsidy for the purchase of an electric bus will have to comply with the requirements of the Legault government program.
To be eligible for financial assistance, the vehicle must have been assembled in Canada. Lion is the only company in Quebec that can meet this requirement.
The Bank reached an agreement with the Federation for its agreement announced this Friday. The organization will act as a one-stop-shop for school carriers who wish to obtain a loan.
Created in 2017 by the federal Liberals, the agency is seen by Ottawa as a way to use public funds to mobilize private investment and finance new projects.