{"id":82603,"date":"2025-05-26T11:03:26","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T15:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82603"},"modified":"2025-05-26T11:03:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T15:03:26","slug":"from-the-ashes-lion-electric-finds-a-lifeline-in-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82603","title":{"rendered":"From the ashes: Lion Electric finds a lifeline in Quebec"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"img-border featured-image\">\n\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"1600\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/lion_electric.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1600\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"Lion Electric bought by Quebec investors\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/lion_electric.jpg?w=320&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/lion_electric.jpg?w=640&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/lion_electric.jpg?w=1024&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/lion_electric.jpg?w=1500&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1500w\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>A new subsidy for electric school buses in Quebec has given flailing electric bus and truck manufacturer Lion Electric a fresh commercial forecast and a raft of fresh pile of real estate cash to swim around in.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-417732\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Lion Electric has racked up nearly $250 million in debts, laid off hundreds of employees in two countries, and left several school districts on the hook with uncertain POs or, in some cases, bricked buses. The once-promising electric bus manufacturer\u2019s downturn has been such that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2025\/03\/21\/3046821\/0\/en\/Bragar-Eagel-Squire-P-C-Is-Investigating-Lion-Electric-Flywire-Civitas-and-SoundHound-and-Encourages-Investors-to-Contact-the-Firm.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bragel Eagel &amp; Squire, P.C<\/a>., a New York-based law firm specializing in shareholder rights law, is investigating the Quebec-based manufacturer due to concerns that it, \u201cviolated federal securities laws and\/or engaged in other unlawful business practices.\u201d Sharp-eyed observers of Lion\u2019s fortunes will note that that\u2019s a separate lawsuit from the one announced by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleantrucking.com\/battery-electric\/article\/15739877\/law-firm-investigating-lion-electric-for-possible-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bronstein, Gewirtz, &amp; Grossman, LLC<\/a>., which also suspects Lion committed federal securities fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Things are super bad for the Canadian HDEV startup, in other words. But it seems that all is not lost for Lion Electric.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/2025\/03\/25\/tesla-banned-canada-ev-rebate-program-gov-freezes-suspicous-43-million-rebates\/\">A government incentive for electric school buses that expired in March is set to be reinstated<\/a>, opening the door for more electric bus sales in Quebec, where the company has a genuine foothold (nearly 1,200 of the 1,600 existing electric school buses are already wearing Lion badges).<\/p>\n<p>\t<span class=\"outbrain-ad-label\">Advertisement &#8211; scroll for more content<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The new rebate program is being seen by some as a response to Trump\u2019s proposed tariffs on electric vehicles built in Canada. Under the details, new Lion Electric school buses may receive up to $240,000 in incentive funding (up from the previous cap of $175,000), that an American-made <a href=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/2024\/07\/02\/ev-sales-slump-no-one-told-blue-bird-bldb-their-stock-is-soaring\/\">Blue Bird<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/2025\/01\/06\/thomas-built-buses-debuts-its-next-gen-electric-school-bus\/\">Thomas Built<\/a> would, presumably, not.<\/p>\n<p>That fresh hope was enough to convince Vincent Chiara, <a href=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/2024\/12\/05\/lion-electric-lays-off-half-its-staff-looks-to-mach-for-a-bailout\/\">president of Quebec real estate powerhouse Groupe MACH<\/a>, and Pierre Wilkie, a director on Lion Electric\u2019s board, to start shoveling more money into Lion. The exact dollar amounts haven\u2019t been released, but while there\u2019s enough money there for the company to retain its Canadian manufacturing facility in St-J\u00e9r\u00f4me, <a href=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/2022\/11\/02\/first-lion-electric-school-bus-made-in-us-at-joliet-factory\/\">there is very pointedly <em>not<\/em> enough to reopen the company\u2019s factory in Joliet<\/a>, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy to get to where we are this morning,\u201d said Guy Martel, a lawyer representing Lion Electric, during a court hearing on May 16. \u201cIt\u2019s a result, but it\u2019s still not what we had hoped for at the very beginning of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No word yet on how the fresh investment will impact the two lawsuits, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dandodiary.com\/2024\/03\/articles\/securities-litigation\/ev-company-hit-with-spac-related-securities-suit-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">or the looming SEC SPAC investigation<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.centralmaine.com\/2025\/02\/04\/maines-problems-with-lion-electric-buses-began-immediately\/\">or repair the Lion Electric buses that have been sitting idle<\/a> \u2013\u00a0but some hope is better than none.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SOURCE | IMAGES<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/electricautonomy.ca\/fleets\/school-buses\/2025-05-22\/lion-electric-investors-quebec-school-bus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Electric Autonomy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dpbolvw.net\/click-101288862-16942853\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_EVs_0797c2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-408967\" srcset=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_EVs_0797c2.png 750w, https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_EVs_0797c2.png?resize=150,30 150w, https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_EVs_0797c2.png?resize=300,60 300w, https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_EVs_0797c2.png?resize=350,70 350w, https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_EVs_0797c2.png?resize=140,28 140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p><em>Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you\u2019ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. The best part? No one will call you until after you\u2019ve elected to move forward. Get started, hassle-free,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dpbolvw.net\/click-101288862-16942853\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">by clicking here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-disclaimer-container\" readability=\"6.3518518518519\">\n<p class=\"disclaimer-affiliate\"><em>FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/about\/#affiliate\">More.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- post ad --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new subsidy for electric school buses in Quebec has given flailing electric bus and truck manufacturer Lion Electric a fresh commercial forecast and a raft of fresh pile of real estate cash to swim around in. Lion Electric has racked up nearly $250 million in debts, laid off hundreds of employees in two countries, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}