“The Biden administration awarded Canadian electric bus maker Lion Electric $159 million to manufacture 435 school buses between 2022 and 2024…The company has since fallen into bankruptcy, failed to deliver hundreds of the buses it promised, and warned school districts that its dire financial straits prevent it from servicing those in circulation. As a result, many of those districts are turning back to diesel,” reports the Washington Free Beacon:
Lion, nearing bankruptcy, had yet to deliver $95 million worth of the electric buses it pledged to produce as part of the Biden administration’s $5 billion Clean School Bus program….The company also permanently shuttered multiple manufacturing plants, fired the majority of its employees, and told consumers that it could no longer honor warranties and purchase orders in the United States.
Lion’s dramatic fall from grace marks one of the most apparent failures stemming from Democrats’ green energy agenda, particularly as school districts turn back to the diesel-powered vehicles the Clean School Bus program was designed to phase out.
“We are going to keep our electric fleet on the roads for as long as possible. Eventually, however, we will return to diesel, as the cost of the vehicle is far less than electric,” said a Michigan school superintendent.
Charlie Butler, a superintendent in northern Louisiana, said the 14 Lion buses his district got are still new, yet he is struggling to find companies that can repair them.
Electric buses are prohibitively expensive for most school sytems. They cost more than $350,000 on average, but new diesel-powered buses typically cost only about $100,000.
A number of school districts have gotten rid of all of their Lion buses over mechanical and safety concerns. A Midwestern school superintendent for a Midwest school district lamented that the district’s buses could not heat up in cold weather, lost steering and braking ability at times, had defective frames, and regularly displayed error messages that forced drivers to reset the vehicles.
“The buses do not run for more than a month before needing more repairs,” said Coleen Souza, an assistant superintendent in Maine.
