The Lion Electric Co., a manufacturer of all-electric medium and heavy-duty urban vehicles, recently announced that it has completed production of its first lithium-ion battery pack at the company’s battery manufacturing facility located in Mirabel, Quebec. Final certification of the first battery pack is expected in the first quarter of 2023, followed by a gradual ramp up of production in 2023. The first batteries produced in Mirabel will power the Lion5 truck and the LionAmbulance, expected to reach commercial production in the first half of 2023.
Lion’s new Mirabel battery manufacturing facility, once fully operational, is expected to give the Company a key market advantage, with vertical integration providing more control of supply, technology advancement, and vehicle integration. Given the battery is typically the most expensive component of an electric vehicle, this new manufacturing capability should have a direct impact on Lion’s development of medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicle platforms, while also offering important economic benefits.
At full scale, Lion’s battery manufacturing facility is expected to have an annual production capacity of five gigawatt-hours of battery capacity. The news comes as Lion has also recently celebrated the start of production at its U.S. vehicle manufacturing facility in Joliet, Illinois.
A closer look at Lion
At last fall’s NTEA Upfitting Summit, Fleet Equipment had the chance to talk with the Lion team about upfitting an electric truck for vocational applications. Click below to watch that video.
