(Montreal) The Quebec company Lion Electric is one of the beneficiaries of a Biden government grant to support the electrification of school buses in the United States.
Updated yesterday at 4:43 p.m.
The US government announced Wednesday the granting of nearly a billion US distributed in nearly 389 school boards in 50 states. The fleet would be 95% electric.
The support of the Biden administration demonstrates the potential of the electric bus market, believes Marc Bédard, president and founder of Lion Electric. “Lion saw an opportunity for all-electric school buses on the market more than a decade ago,” he said in a statement. Today, we can see the results of our visionary approach in the widespread adoption of such vehicles. »
The orders obtained by Lion Electric exceed 200 buses, but analyst Rupert Merer of National Bank Financial points out that the identity of the manufacturers has not been revealed for all the contracts. Including school boards that identified Lion as their supplier, the analyst estimates that the company received the equivalent of US$82 million in orders.
“We believe that this announcement will bring new contracts, which will inflate the order book which stood at 2,357 vehicles in August,” comments the analyst.
School boards that have obtained funds have until April to place an order. Lion Electric has until October 2024 to make the delivery.
Mr. Merer points out that an additional round of funding of US$1 billion is planned for the year 2023. “With the results obtained by Lion so far, we believe that it could meet even more success in this market . There is competition, but we believe it is competitive with its chassis designed for several electric models. »
The company is expected to begin vehicle production at its new US plant in Joliet, Illinois by the end of the year. The company plans to reach a production rate of 20,000 vehicles in Joliet when the facilities reach full capacity.
The stock was up 2 cents, or 0.54%, at $3.72 at the end of trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.