This Dec. 8, 2023, photo shows the logo of a Lion Electric bus owned by Winthrop Public Schools. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file

Lion Electric, the company that supplied faulty electric buses to schools in Maine, is on the brink of bankruptcy, Montreal's La Presse reported Monday.

The Quebec-based company supplied at least 17 electric buses through the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection's Clean School Bus grant to schools in Maine, with four in the Winthrop Public Schools.

A bus from Lion Electric, acquired by Winthrop schools under the federal Clean School Bus Program, is parked near Winthrop Middle School in December 2023. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file photo

Lion Electric reportedly had until Nov. 30 to pay a $22 million loan from two Canadian investors, along with another $117 million loan taken out through a bank, but the deadlines have been pushed to Dec. 16. The company also has a long-term debt of $293 million, the news outlet said, further reporting that the public company might leave the stock exchange.

Related Electric buses continue to cause problems for Maine schools

Now, the company reported on Dec. 1 that it laid off 400 employees, nearly half of its workforce, and has two weeks to close a deal with investors or else Lion Electric might have to seek protection from its creditors under Canadas' Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), similar to bankruptcy in the U.S., according to the newspaper.

Lion Electric did not respond to a Kennebec Journal reporter's inquiry on how the potential bankruptcy will affect the buses stationed in Maine.

The electric buses experienced a multitude of issues in the past two years, including a sideline from the Maine Department of Education after several school district's transportation directors experienced power steering failures while operating the vehicles. The school buses continue to have issues, including a recent part recall that has caused the Winthrop Public School board to reconsider putting students on the bus.

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Becky Foley, interim superintendent of the Winthrop Public Schools, said she has not heard from Lion about the potential bankruptcy of the company and that the board will take up the issue at Wednesday night's school board meeting.

In light of the buses issues, the company told school districts in Maine that it planned to hire a local technician to help with the problems.

A Lion Electric spokesperson did not respond last week to neither of a Kennebec Journal reporter's attempts for comment on the technician, nor a previous inquiry about the company's financial situation, as the company laid off a separate round of employees in mid-November.

Since November 2023, the company has gone from 1,350 employees to just 300, La Presse reported, and put itself up for sale on Nov. 18.

The layoffs will affect workers at Lion Electric's assembly plant in Illinois, as the manufacturing operations were suspended Monday.

Lion Electric has school buses in the Winthrop Public Schools, Yarmouth Public Schools, Eastern Maine School System, Bingham-area Maine School Administrative District 13, Five Town Community School District, Mount Desert Island Regional School System, Sipyack Elementary School and Vinalhaven Regional School Unit 8.

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