Lion Electric and Boivin Evolution combined their talents and technology to secure a U.S. deal with waste management giant Waste Connections

This week, electric truck and bus maker The Lion Electric Co., of Saint-Jérôme, Que., and electric waste-collection truck-body developer, Boivin Evolution, of Lévis, Que., announced their first joint sale of a new Lion8 zero-emission refuse truck.

Waste Connections Inc., a major North American waste management company, with headquarters in Woodland, Tex., and Vaughan, Ont., bought a pair of the vehicles for use in two locations — Washington and Florida.

“Hopefully, [it’s] the first two of many more to come,” says Patrick Gervais, Lion’s vice-president of marketing and communications, in an e-mail to Electric Autonomy Canada.

Leading the industry

“We are excited to lead the industry with the introduction of the Lion-Boivin electric vehicles to our markets and look forward to expanding their application,” said Worthing F. Jackman, president and CEO of Waste Connections in a statement announcing the deal. “This investment in zero-emission vehicles furthers our continuing efforts to reduce our environmental impact and expand our capabilities within the communities we serve.”

Added Claude Boivin, founder and CEO of Boivin Evolution: “This introduction of electric vehicles is the beginning of a new tendency towards a cleaner environment.”

The EV chassis is made by Lion Electric, while Boivin Evolution makes the fully electric waste collection body and automated arms. According to the two companies, this combination is the first application of its kind in North America. It’s also a perfect use case of a partnership strategy that Lion intends to build on to drive sales of the Lion8 vehicle in different markets.

“Adding in electric equipment on an electric truck is what we do every time we put to market a new specialized truck,” said Lion CEO Marc Bédard, speaking in a session at this week’s Electric Mobility Canada 2020 Virtual Conference.

“With partners, we install electric equipment on the electric trucks so that the equipment doesn’t need any additional battery pack for the operation of that equipment,” said Bédard. “So, for the operator, it’s quite simple. There’s only one plug, there’s only one source of energy as well.”

Gervais says Lion and Boivin have had discussions with other potential buyers of the ZEV refuse truck for the Canadian market, but at this point “they are not as quick as American companies.”

Zero noise pollution

Waste Connections can expect each of its new trucks to be able to travel about 130 miles (210 kilometres), reaching about 1,200 homes, on a single charge. Lion and Boivin also note that being fully electric they are also oil-free, don’t need a lot of extra equipment like hydraulic pumps, valve and tubes, and generate zero noise pollution. As well, the trucks have a regenerative brake system that ensures longer brake life, and a projected saving of 80 per cent on total energy costs. The vehicles are to be delivered by the end of 2020.

UPDATED July 17, 2020: This story has been updated to remove the reference in the headline to “North America’s first”