The Canadian National Railway is sticking with its roots as it has announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to purchase 50 zero emission trucks from The Lion Electric Company.
CN Rail has been testing the electric trucks since launching a pilot project in April 2019. Once officially added to the fleet, the trucks will handle intermodal transport between major cities from coast to coast.
Since the trucks are fully electric, they produce zero emissions and almost as important depending on who you ask, no noise pollution. The delivery of the trucks will help to remove 100 tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the road annually.
“By focusing on electric vehicles, CN and Lion are playing a leadership role in the transition to the economy of the future. This will help fight climate change and creates good jobs here. It’s exactly the kind of investment needed for a greener, more innovative economic recovery,” said The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.
Based out of Quebec, The Lion Electric Co. was founded in 2011 and until now mostly built the iconic yellow school buses. Beginning in 2019 it started to manufacture battery-electric powertrains with its first electric heavy-duty vehicle, the Lion8 Class 9 truck.
According to the company, the Lion8 features up to 480kWh of battery capacity, giving it a range of as much as 402km (250 miles). Using a Level 2 charger, charging time can take anywhere between 5 to 16 hours, while a DC fast charge can shorten that to just 1.5 to 5 hours.
Source: CN Rail
