What you need to know:
- All 1,200 LionC buses are back on Quebec roads after a Montreal fire linked to faulty HVAC fuses.
- After bankruptcy, Lion voided U.S. warranties, leaving schools with unresolved safety and maintenance issues.
- The DOJ, EPA, and NHTSA acknowledge the issue but have not launched formal investigations into Lion Electric.
- Many U.S. school districts pulled Lion buses from service due to cold-weather failures and costly repairs. Lion's Joliet, Illinois production plant is now closed.
All 1,200 Lion Electric LionC school buses are back in service in Quebec after being pulled due to safety concerns following a September 9 bus fire in Montreal, but questions remain about the safety and future status of the U.S. fleet.
[Related: Quebec officials ground all 1,200 Lion Electric school buses following fire]
As a recap, Lion Electric, renamed LION following its emergence from bankruptcy protection in Canada, was acquired by a group of Quebec investors last spring. The new owners confirmed the company is no longer in the battery-electric Class 6-8 semi truck business, instead focusing entirely on EV school buses.
LION also announced all bus warranties outside of Quebec (meaning the U.S.) are null and void, leaving U.S. school districts in the lurch.
Several have reported numerous unresolved defects, including loss of power steering and interior heating. Lion’s remaining U.S.-based support technicians have been unable to keep up with repair demands. As a result, an unknown number of districts have taken the buses out of service entirely—often replacing them with older diesel models.
Despite Quebec's repair status, questions still remain unanswered for U.S. schools, who purchased the buses with funds from the EPA's now-defunct $5 billion Clean School Bus Program.
Montreal bus fire
There were no injuries following the Montreal fire, which has since been traced to faulty HVAC fuses, according to a LION-issued inspection bulletin. The driver, CBC reports, noticed smoke coming out of the vents after turning on the heating system. Interestingly, the problem also affected the company's diesel bus:
"We have identified some potential anomalies in a sub-component of the HVAC system that Lion obtains from a third-party supplier," the bulletin states. "In the interest of safety above all else, we request that Lion bus operators perform the following inspections and modifications: Mandatory inspection of several low-voltage electrical connections, replacement of certain electrical connectors, replace fan fuses with less powerful ones, adding a fuse to an HVAC control panel circuit. This inspection and modification procedure must be carried out on all Lion360 (diesel) and LionC 3rd generation and earlier buses (Gen3, Gen2 and Gen1)."
The good news is that the fire did not spread to the bus's lithium-ion battery pack. Transport Canada, the country's equivalent to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), is also investigating two previous fires but has yet to identify the exact cause "due to the extent of fire damage in affected buses."
[Related: Lion Electric EV school bus catches fire on way to school]
In the U.S., unfortunately, it appears there's been little progress towards a solution for school districts.
Clean Trucking reached out to Department of Justice, NHTSA, and the EPA regarding the situation.
LION chose not to reply to our latest inquiries.
U.S. government responses
Following Lion's announcement confirming U.S. warranties are no longer relevant, the DOJ told Clean Trucking its "policy is generally to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation." Pressed further, the spokesperson added that the department "can't comment on Lion Electric as it has obtained protections under the bankruptcy code."
The EPA, meanwhile, says it "understands Lion Electric's bankruptcy has put school districts who chose that company as a vendor in a difficult position. EPA is actively monitoring the bankruptcy proceedings and evaluating all options to support impacted school districts.
