The leading manufacturer of medium and heavy-duty urban electric vehicles is setting up a few manufacturing facility in Joliet, a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the US state of Illinois.
The company will make an initial investment of about $70 million over a period of three years. It will be the largest dedicated production site for zero-emission medium and heavy-duty vehicles in the US and Lion's biggest footprint in the market, giving the company the ability to meet the increasing demand in the marketplace for locally assembled zero-emission vehicles.
The 900,000 sq-ft facility, for which building ramp up is anticipated in the second half of 2021, will have an annual installed capacity of 20,000 all-electric buses and trucks. The first vehicles will roll off the production line in the second half of 2022.
This additional production capacity will support the company in scaling electric bus production as the US market moves to electrify a large portion of its school bus fleet and produce many heavy-duty zero-emission trucks. Besides, the governments and operators throughout the country look to decarbonize freight and transportation fleets.
Marc Bedard, CEO & Founder, Lion, said, 'This significant expansion into the US market will not only allow us to drastically increase our overall manufacturing capacity of electric trucks and buses but to also better serve our customers while adding critical clean manufacturing jobs that will form the backbone of the green economy.'