Commercial vehicle OEM Lion Electric has announced plans to build a battery manufacturing plant and innovation center in Quebec. The factory will produce both battery packs and modules, and is expected to begin operations in early 2023. The planned yearly production capacity is 5 GWh of battery storage, enough to electrify approximately 14,000 medium and heavy-duty vehicles.

Establishing its own battery plant will enable Lion to reduce its battery system costs, and secure a stable supply of battery packs. Lion’s highly automated factory should be able to produce one battery module every 11 seconds, and a full battery pack every 5 minutes.

Lion’s innovation center will focus on research and development, with the goal of achieving advances in performance, range and energy capacity.

The project represents an investment of approximately $185 million (Canadian). The federal and provincial governments will provide approximately $100 million in support.

“With today’s announcement, we are continuing to take steps to support our Canadian businesses, invest in innovation, and protect the environment,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “It is because of companies like Lion Electric that we are accelerating our transition to a resilient and competitive clean growth economy.”

“In Quebec, we are fortunate to have leaders such as Lion Electric to help build a greener, more durable economy,” said Quebec Prime Minister François Legault. “With its new facilities at the cutting-edge of robotization, the company will be able to increase its productivity and will further its contribution to the growth of our economy.”

“This factory will allow Lion to integrate a fundamental element to the supply chain of our electric vehicles,” said Lion Electric founder and CEO Marc Bédard. “Thanks to the financing provided by the federal and provincial governments, we will now be able to manufacture in Canada what we previously imported.”

Source: Lion Electric