Canadian electric vehicle maker Lion Electric plans a Joliet manufacturing facility that will create more than 800 jobs.
Montreal-based Lion Electric, which makes school buses, says the plant will make up to 20,000 electric buses and trucks a year. The company said it will spend $70 million over three years. It will receive $7.9 million in state tax credits if it meets those goals.
Illinois won the project over Texas and Michigan, though it didn't offer the highest incentives, said Lion Electric CEO Marc Bedard.
At a news conference this morning, Bedard said the factory will employ more than 800 workers. The company plans to employ up to 1,400 workers within five to six years, including engineers. It already has begun hiring for the factory, which will begin production late next year.
"The new 900,000-square-foot facility represents Lion Electric’s largest dedicated production site in the U.S.," Gov. J.B. Pritzker's office said in a statement.
The factory will move into a building that's already under construction in Clarius Park, a business park near the interchange of interstates 80 and 55. "We wanted something where we’d be up and running shortly," Bedard said. "That building is 75 percent done."
Lion will join Rivian as the second company making electric vehicles in the state. Rivian expects to begin making trucks at a former Mitsubishi plant in Normal next month that will employ about 1,000 workers. Headcount is expected to grow to more than 2,500.
“This is a big deal,” Pritzker said at today's news conference “These are solid manufacturing jobs. This presents enormous opportunity for the state of Illinois, not just with Lion Electric, but also the Tier 1 and Tier 2 manufacturers that will be looking to locate near EV manufacturers like Rivian and Lion Electric.”
Lion and Rivian are betting big on a move toward electric vehicles that create less pollution than conventional cars, trucks and buses. Amazon has made commitments to purchase vehicles from both companies.
“This significant expansion into the U.S. market will not only allow us to drastically increase our overall manufacturing capacity of electric trucks and buses but to also better serve our customers, while adding critical clean manufacturing jobs that will form the backbone of the green economy," Bedard said in a statement.
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