Lion Electric building battery plant at Mirabel

The Lion Electric Company is building its EV battery manufacturing plant and innovation centre at the YMX International Aerocity in Mirabel, Quebec.

The facility will be located adjacent to Montreal-Mirabel International Airport (ADM) on a 1.6 million square foot property, with development planned to begin in June 2021. The facility will cost about $185 million.

Lion selected the Mirabel location for its proximity to its current Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, manufacturing plant and access to transportation infrastructure, such as highways and airport. The company also plans to repurpose current airport facilities for use as a test track to aid in vehicle development.

The facility is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022, with a planned annual battery production capacity of five gigawatt hours, enough to electrify approximately 14,000 of Lion’s medium and heavy-duty zero-emission trucks and buses. The factory will be highly automated and is expected to be able to produce one battery module every 11 seconds and a full battery pack every five minutes.

Maintaining ownership of its battery production allows Lion increased control of a key part of its product supply chain while simultaneously lowering costs.

“Breaking ground on this project is a very important step in Lion’s journey,” said Marc Bedard, CEO and founder of Lion Electric.

“ADM has been a fantastic partner in providing us with a location that fits all of Lion’s needs, including access to test facilities and key infrastructure, with opportunity for future expansion. The completion of our battery manufacturing plant and innovation centre will bring us increased autonomy, allow us to lower costs, and bring hundreds of additional highly skilled jobs to the region.”

The city of electrification

Lion hopes that other leaders in electrification will locate themselves in the area, growing the local supply chain with the added benefit of decreasing both vehicle costs and emissions associated with shipping.

With the completion of the plant, Lion expects to add 135 high-quality direct jobs in Mirabel in the next two years, and up to a total of 250 direct jobs in the longer term as the company continues to expand its operations at the site. The completion of the facility is also projected to create thousands of secondary jobs in the region.

Lion plans to use sustainable practices in the construction of the facility, with more details around its design to be announced in the future. The company will also continue to promote the use of electric vehicles with its employee base and visitors, offering charging infrastructure on site free of charge.

Lion recently announced the construction of a vehicle manufacturing facility in the United States which will also open in the second half of 2022. To date, Lion has delivered over 390 all-electric heavy-duty vehicles in North America with over seven  million miles driven since 2016. All of Lion’s vehicles are currently manufactured at the company’s North American facility, which has a current capacity to produce 2,500 electric buses and trucks per year.