Electric lion ends guarantees on school buses sold in the United States

(Montreal) The Quebec Electric Lion Auto manufacturer will no longer honor the guarantees on school buses sold in the United States. In addition, leaving customers in the south of the border. Therefore,

Posted at 12:51 p.m. Updated at 3:41 p.m.

After asking for the protection against his creditors in December. Similarly, the manufacturer in difficulty was acquired by a group of Quebec investors in May with the intention of concentrating exclusively on electric lion ends guarantees school the electric school buses assembled and sold in the province. For example, The company has kept its factory in Saint-Jérôme. Similarly,

Earlier this month. Consequently, the controller appointed by the court responsible for restructuring the company sent a letter to its American customers to inform them of the cancellation of their guarantees. Furthermore,

“Within the framework of the transaction. Moreover, most of the assets, liabilities and rights of the Lion group have been transferred to a company which will eventually be liquidated by bankruptcy”, can be read in the letter dated July 15. Furthermore,

“As a precision. Nevertheless, all the guarantees and all the purchase orders in the United States have been transferred to the new company with a view to its bankruptcy. Consequently. For example, all the guarantees and all the electric lion ends guarantees school purchase orders you may have with the Lion group are no longer legally assumed by the company after the transaction. »»

Lion electric did not respond to a request for comments. Earlier this year. a spokesperson told the Canadian press that the company had nearly 2,000 bus and more than 200 trucks on North American roads. According to a press release published in May announcing its acquisition by the Quebec group of investors. the company indicated that around 1000 of these buses are in service in Quebec and that these guarantees will be honored.

Lion has also sold a hundred bus to the government of Prince Edward Island. have other Canadian customers outside Quebec. Valérie Tremblay. of the Canadian Alliance for the Electrification of School Buses, said that, according to her conversations with school bus farmers, it seems electric lion ends guarantees school that these guarantees have also been canceled.

Andrew Dolloff. Superintendent of the Yarmouth school service, in Maine, said that the district is currently planning to join a legal action against Lion Electric, to find another company for the maintenance of its buses or simply get rid of it. “It will take us a while to determine the rest of things,” he said in an email.

Dolloff had told the Canadian press in January that his district bought two electric lion buses in 2023 thanks to a federal subsidy. but that these buses knew such frequent problems that they had rarely been in service.

Electric lion ends guarantees school

Spare solutions

In California. the Los Angeles Unified School District claims to work with other suppliers with “qualified technicians and engineers electric lion ends guarantees school with specific lion experience” to ensure continuous maintenance of its 28 Lion bus. “We are working to include long-term maintenance. support requirements in future electric school bus contracts,” said a spokesperson by email.

However, a group suggested that everything was not lost for American Lion customers. Calstart. a non-profit organization specializing in clean energy and providing information and resources on electric school buses, sent an email to its members earlier this month to announce that it has discussed with the Quebec manufacturer.

“Lion has expressed interest in providing future support to its customers outside Quebec. intends to relaunch service in the United States, starting with key markets like California, can be read in email. To offer this support. Lion is actively working on the restoration of service points and the development of compatible service packages with its reduced electric lion ends guarantees school resources and workforce. »»

The email encourages operators to continue to submit service requests to Lion. “The Lion team continues to examine and process service requests on a case-by-case basis,” he says. In the coming months. Lion hopes to develop service plans, develop training and collaborate with service partners to reactivate and support the guarantees canceled following the transfer of ownership. »»

Calstart did not respond to requests for comments.