At the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, the Lion Electric Co. launched an all-electric Class 5 truck powered by the company’s new in-house engineered and manufactured 800-V battery packs. The Lion5 has a maximum payload of up to 12,500 lb and is slated for production before year-end.

Upfitters can choose from multiple LionBattery pack placement configurations depending on build specification selections. The Lion5 gets the first application of the company’s LionBattery, an 800-V proprietary battery system comprised of a battery management system, battery thermal management system, and battery modules and packs.

“At Lion, we’ve always believed in finding a better way to serve fleets and benefit the environment and the Lion5 is our most recent example of this yet,” stated Brian Piern, Lion Electric’s Chief Commercial Officer. “It is because of the success of the Lion6 that we are able to introduce today our next-generation platform, the Lion5, the premier vehicle for last-mile delivery and more, featuring the first application of LionBattery, our in-house designed and manufactured battery packs.”

The company focused on cab design, electrical architecture, and chassis technology to better position the truck in the Class 5 GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating), while offering configurations of 19,500 to 26,000 lb in the Class 6 applications. The Lion5 produces 315 hp (235 kW) and 2360 lb·ft (3200 N·m) and can be equipped with a GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) up to 30,000 lb.

The company promises “premium ride and handling” due to the Lion5’s low center of gravity, balanced weight distribution front-to-back, low cab forward design, LionBattery pack placement, and adaptive auto-leveling four-wheel-independent suspension system on select model variants. For added safety and traction management, the Lion5 has electronic stability control, traction control, hill start assist, and a limited-slip differential.

The Lion5’s cab provides a considerable 96-in width, with a cutaway configuration option enabling pass-through between the cab and any suitable body upfit. Ease of entering and exiting is enabled in adaptive independent suspension variants by a programmable feature that lowers the vehicle 3 in (76 mm) when opening the door.

The truck is engineered to be upfitted with any suitable body application. Bodybuilders can specify an optional ePTO (electric power take-off) interface for access to 4-kW low voltage and up to 32-kW high voltage feeds.

The LionBattery has been engineered to optimize performance, integration, and packaging throughout Lion’s portfolio of commercial trucks and buses.  In the Lion5, it delivers a range of up to 200 mi (322 km), while having the capability to be charged to 80% in 1.5 h.

Fleet customers considering the Lion5 have access to a range of Lion support services to ease the transition to zero emissions and maximize operational success. That extends from LionEnergy charging infrastructure to LionBeat proprietary EV telematics, LionCapital Solutions financing assistance, BrightSquad driver/maintenance/safety training, and LionGrants funding support assistance.

Lion Electric designs and manufactures all-electric Class 5 to 8 commercial urban trucks, buses, and minibuses for the school, paratransit, and mass transit segments. The company’s current line-up of all-electric trucks, divided into four main platforms based on GVWR, are the Lion5, Lion6, Lion8, and Lion8 Tractor, and its all-electric bus lineup consists of Type A, Type C, and Type D models. It designs and assembles many of its vehicles’ components including chassis, battery packs, truck cabins, and bus bodies.

In April, it inaugurated its new manufacturing factory to produce lithium-ion batteries for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Said to be the first of its kind in Canada, the recently built 175,000 ft² facility at the YMX International Aerocity of Mirabel, Quebec, will power electric vehicles assembled by Lion at its Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, and Joliet, IL, manufacturing plants.

Production of the first battery pack was completed in Mirabel at the end of 2022, with final certification
expected in the first half of 2023, followed by a gradual production ramp-up in 2023. The first Lion batteries will power not only the Lion5 trucks but also the LionC and LionD school buses.

The new facility is targeted to reach a production capacity of 1.7 GW·h by the end of the year and, at full scale, an annual production capacity of 5 GW·h. This would enable Lion to electrify about 14,000 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles per year, depending on the vehicle mix.

Lion has more than 1100 vehicles on the road, with a vehicle order book of 2565 all-electric medium- and heavy-duty urban vehicles as of May 8—consisting of 295 trucks and 2270 buses. In Q1 2023, it began commercial production of LionC zero-emission school buses at the Joliet Facility.