What you need to know:
- Around 1,200 Lion Electric school buses were pulled from Quebec roads after a fire in Montreal; no injuries were reported, and a wiring issue—not the battery—is suspected.
- Lion Electric has a history of safety issues, with multiple NHTSA recalls on its LionC electric bus model for brake failures, high-voltage system faults, and reversed brake connections.
- The company filed for bankruptcy, ended warranty support for U.S. customers, and is now focusing exclusively on electric school buses for the Quebec market.
- Despite EPA funding, U.S. school districts reported that Lion buses can’t heat properly below 35 degrees Fahrenheit; the company's diesel heater fix also failed, forcing some schools to return to diesel buses.
Around 1,200 examples of battery-electric school buses manufactured by bankrupt Canadian company Lion Electric have been removed from the streets of Quebec following a bus fire earlier this week in Montreal.
According to The Canadian Press, several children and the driver were inside the bus at the time of the incident and fortunately no injuries were reported.
Clean Trucking has reached out to a company spokesperson for comment and we'll update this space if a reply is received.
Meanwhile, Quebec Education Minister Sonia LeBel and Transport Minister Jonatan Julien released a joint statement that indicates an unspecified "defect" may have been the fire's cause.
"The preventive vehicle inspection operation will take place all weekend to allow normal school transportation to resume as quickly as possible," they said. "If adjustments to the vehicles are necessary, alternatives will be offered to parents for transporting their children to school next week."
First Student, the parent company of Transco, which owns the specific bus that caught fire, said in a statement it found a "wiring issue within the manufacturer's system" and flagged it to Lion and Transport Canada. The company added it had removed "all affected buses" from service pending "a longer-term solution from Lion."
A spokesperson for the Montreal Fire Department said Tuesday's blaze was not linked to the bus's battery, and no further investigation is planned.
This isn't the first time a Lion Electric bus caught on fire.
Previous fire incident
Last January, one example in Quebec caught on fire on the way to school. Again, no injuries were reported.
The burned remains of a Lion Electric LionC EV school bus in Canada.YouTube/Fair use
Quebec-based Lion Electric, newly renamed LION, filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. Its remnants were sold to a group of Canadian investors who have since announced the company is abandoning the battery-electric Class 6-8 semi business in favor of focusing exclusively on EV school buses for Quebec only.
In July, Lion Electric notified its approximately 2,000 U.S. customers that all warranties for purchases made outside Quebec are now officially void. Warranties within Quebec remain unchanged.
That now appears to be a fortunate exception for Quebec school districts still operating these evidently defective electric buses.
Problematic history
This latest Lion Electric bus failure comes as no surprise. Last summer, Clean Trucking spoke to U.S. school officials who revealed technical and safety issues with the Lion buses, which were purchased with funds from the EPA's $5 billion Clean School Bus Program, itself a part of former President Biden's 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Lion Electric built its EV school bus, called the LionC, in both Quebec and at a now-closed 900,000 sq. ft. factory in Joliet, Illinois.
The NHTSA has issued multiple safety recalls for the LionC bus, citing issues such as potential parking brake failures, high-voltage system faults, and reversed brake connections. One school district reported that "the electric infrastructure cannot heat the bus when external temperatures fall below 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
The company's proposed fix—an auxiliary diesel heater installed by a technician—also failed to resolve the issue. Several U.S. school districts have also removed their LionCs from service. Older, previously retired diesel-powered buses have since taken their place.
