Canadian National Railways (CN) has just announced a deal to purchase 50 electric-powered trucks from Quebec-based company Lion Electric. The vehicles will be used for local deliveries within the largest markets served by CN, such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
The announcement was made via a press conference held in Montreal today. CN says the trucks will handle deliveries in cities, movement of containers and other transportation tasks.
Said Jean-Jacques Ruest, President and CEO of CN, the trucks will help “reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also noise pollution. Trucks, let’s face it, are a little noisy.”
For Lion Electric, this represents the largest order received to date for its new truck. CN has been testing eight of the company’s trucks as part of a pilot project launched in 2019.
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Lion Electric first introduced the Lion8 Class 9 truck that same year. The all-electric truck is conceived for urban deliveries and its system delivers a range of up to 400 km on a full charge.
In 2019, Lion Electric president summed up the appeal of the new product thusly to FreightWaves magazine: “It’s cool. It’s a smart truck. It’s quiet. It’s smooth.”
Being a Made-in-Canada project, the Lion8 is also equipped to withstand our rugged winters.
Each Lion Electric truck costs between $300,000 and $400,000, making the deal worth between $ 15 and 20 million overall, in our estimation.
