History
Autobus Lion (2011-2017)
The first school bus manufacturer founded in North America in the 21st century, Autobus Lion/Lion Bus is also the first manufacturer of full-size school buses in Canada since the closure of Les Enterprises Michel Corbeil in 2007. Lion Bus was created in 2008 by former Corbeil executives Marc Bédard and Camile Chartrand (serving as Lion President and retired COO, respectively)La Compagnie Électrique Lion (2017-present)
In June 2017, Lion Bus rebranded itself as the Lion Electric Company. As part of the transition, the company announced the development of a second bus design, a flat-floor fully electric minibus for school and transit applications (later unveiled as the LionM and LionA, respectively). In addition, Lion announced the development of Class 5-8 fully electric trucks, with a planned launch in fall 2018. In November 2017, Power Energy (a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Corporation Canada), announced a major investment in Lion Electric. In the summer of 2018, the company established a base of operations in central California. In 2021, Lion announced a new manufacturing facility in Joliet, Illinois to produce its electric buses and trucks, and became a public company by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). In May 2021, Lion received an order from First Student for 260 electric buses, its largest order at that point.Products
Lion 360°
Launched in 2011, the Lion Bus 360° is a cowled-chassis (conventional) bus sold as either a school bus, MFSAB (activity bus), or a commercial-use bus. As with the Blue Bird Vision, the 360 does not use a chassis and hood of a production medium-duty truck, instead having a proprietary chassis developed for the bus by Spartan Chassis (a subsidiary of Spartan Motors, former parent company ofLion eLion (LionC)
Launched in 2015, the eLion is a fully electric vehicle, sharing its body and Spartan chassis with the 360. In place of the Cummins diesel, a 250 KiloWatt TM4 SUMO MD electric motor is used along with LG lithium-ion batteries. The eLion is externally distinguished from the 360 by its colored bumpers, which are either painted blue or green.LionM/LionA/LionD
Launched in 2018, the LionM (originally the eLionM) is a low-floor midibus/minibus produced in a 26-foot length. Offering kneeling and an integrated wheelchair ramp, the LionM was developed for transit, paratransit, and shuttle applications. The LionA is a Type A school bus, adopting the axle configuration of a much larger Type D bus. with a larger school bus called LionD. The LionM and LionA are equipped with either one or two 80 kWh LG Chem lithium-ion battery packs mounted below the floor, allowing for either a 75-mile or 150-mile driving range. Alongside a 19.2 kW J1777 charger, DC fast-charging is an option, along with battery swapping.Lion8
Introduced in March 2019, the Lion8 is a Class 8 fully electric truck, produced in a cabover configuration. Developed primarily for urban and vocational use, the Lion8 currently has a range of 250 miles. It is equipped with a TM4 SUMO HD electric motor and a 480 kWh battery.See also
* School bus * Spartan Motors - chassis supplierReferences
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