The Biden administration gave Canadian electric bus maker The Lion Electric Company $160 million in subsidies to manufacture 435 buses for schools around the U.S. The company is nearing bankruptcy and laid off almost half its employees, but $95 million of the buses have still not been provided, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Some of the $65 million worth of buses that were delivered are not without problems. The federal Environmental Protection Agency is investigating Lion Electric for fraud after the buses it sent to Winthrop Public Schools in Maine were unusable for a year and a half due to faulty parts.
Lion Electric received the third most money of all manufacturers subsidized by President Biden’s $5 billion Clean School Bus program, yet there are still 55 school districts waiting for their buses, the Free Beacon reported.
Meanwhile, Lion Electric’s stock has fallen to $.08 per share compared to $33.48 in January 2021. The company has also allegedly faced issues with properly disclosing its finances. A group of investors sued the company last year for its allegedly “grossly unrealistic financial projections,” and the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a warning last August over inaccurate numbers
The issues were already clear when the government awarded its grant to Lion Electric in October 2022. The company had reported $17.2 million in losses in the previous three months, the Free Beacon reported.
Winthrop Public Schools in Maine is in a particularly tough spot. The school is required to either use the EV buses or pay back the federal grant used to buy them. Many of the buses are out of commission, and the school says Lion Electric has not provided support.
Lion Electric is required to pay Winthrop back for any time the buses spend off the road, but the school told Central Maine they don’t expect to get the $57,000 they are owed.
The company nearly received another $50 million subsidy from Illinois, but it failed to keep the required number of employees on staff.
Americans deserve investments in companies that are fully vetted and do what they promise to do.
(The #WasteOfTheDay is from forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com via RealClearWire.)
