The Lion Electric Company has received a conditional purchase order for 1,000 all-electric LionC school buses from Student Transportation of Canada (STC), a subsidiary of Student Transportation of America (STA), a North-American leader in student transportation, safety and fleet management services, the controlling shareholder of which is Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).

The purchase order is conditional upon the satisfactory grant of non-repayable contributions to STC under Infrastructure Canada’s Zero-Emission Transit Fund (ZETF), for which STC has filed a formal application. Under the ZETF program, the Government of Canada aims to invest $2.75 billion over five years to support public transit and school bus operators in the transition to electrification.

If confirmed, this purchase order would allow STC to become the largest operator of electric school buses in North America. Deliveries would begin in 2022 and occur through the first half of 2026. These electric buses would replace existing diesel vehicles within STC’s Canadian fleet. The operator plans on working closely with its customers and partners to determine which school boards would adopt the electric buses if fulfilled.

Lion estimates that the deployment of 1,000 all-electric school buses would help eliminate approximately 23,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, in addition to reducing noise pollution significantly for the communities in which they operate.