It was with considerable fanfare that local politicians in London announced that they were helping a local school bus operator to buy new electric buses from Lion Electric Company. In an article posted on June 21, 2024, the local CTV News outlet in London announced that the Canadian federal government was providing Langs Bus Lines in London with “$44.6 million in grants and loans to make the transition”. It was dubbed as a great success story. Yet, only a year later (according to an Electrick.co article of July 26, 2025) Lion was going bankrupt and its liquidator was sending letters to bus owners that the warranties on their buses were now void.
What is puzzling about this news is that a consortium of two firms from Quebec and Ontario bought the bankrupt Lion firm this summer and they are the same persons who owned it previously, this according to the Electrek article. So the new Lion has reformed but is not liable for its commitments to its previous clients even though, essentially, they are the same company? It all seems very confusing.
Locally, the federal funding to Langs Bus Lines in London was supposed to cover the cost of 200 new, electric, Lion buses and the charging infrastructure likely installed on their grounds. Some of those Lion buses were seen operating this past school season without complaints from local drivers. Limited charging meant that they could not be used for long distances outside of the City. With the Lion bankruptcy it is questionable how those buses will operate if they need repairs. And student safety must be maintained above all regardless of the financial difficulties.
It remains questionable why the federal government spent 44.6 million dollars, as reported in June, 2024 when the Lion company became bankrupt sometime before July, 2025, or less than a year after the announcement of the federal money. And the persons who would seemingly benefit from this are the same persons who previously owned Lion. Meanwhile bus operators such as Langs would seem to be left paying for the repairs of the new buses.
The Electrek article noted a number of complaints from “school districts” in the U.S. who reportedly must pay these expenses. It is possible that operations in the U.S. may be different in that school busing costs may be paid for by local districts and not by independent bus companies like Langs. In one instance the district of Herscher in Illinois reportedly received “$10 million for the purchase of 25 electric buses and the related charging station from various state and utility incentive programs”. However 6 of the 25 buses reportedly needed some form of repair.
In another instance at Winthrop Public Schools, the director reported that all four of their Lion buses were parked and not used: “Two of them are in need of repairs which would cost us money which we are not willing to invest in because the buses do not run for more than a month before needing more repairs.”
And in another instance at Yarmouth Maine the superintendent reported : “We’ve had some sporadic service over the past two years, but as soon as the tech leaves, the buses produce error codes again,” explained Dolloff. ” and “Then the technician quits or is released, and we wait a few months for the next response.”
If true, these facts reported by Electrek.co, would indicate some disturbing matters affecting local school busing in London, Ontario. It is understandable that operating electric school buses would seem to be a good idea and that government incentives to support this transition would be a reasonable approach. It is not clear however why the federal government has chosen a partnership with a failing bus manufacturer. There may be serious challenges to operating electric buses and that fact has not been made public.
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