The Lion Electric Company, originating in British Columbia, a leading manufacturer of all-electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles, announced the launch of the Lion5, an all-electric Class 5 truck powered by LionBattery packs, Lion’s new in-house engineered and manufactured 800V battery packs.
This unveiling took place during the Advanced Clean Transportation (“ACT”) Expo, one of the largest conference and trade shows highlighting the most advanced transportation technologies and clean fuels available in the marketplace today.
On the show floor, Lion premiered its first-ever Lion5, which has a maximum payload of up to 12,500 lbs. and is slated for production before year-end.
“At Lion we’ve always believed in finding a better way to serve fleets and benefit the environment and the Lion5 is our most recent example of this yet. The design and performance of this innovative all-electric truck is sure to redefine how our customers answer their commercial fleet needs,” stated Brian Piern, Lion Electric’s Chief Commercial Officer. He continued with, “It is because of the success of the Lion6 that we are able to introduce today our next generation platform, the Lion5, the premier vehicle for last mile delivery and more, featuring the first application of LionBattery, our in-house designed and manufactured battery packs.”
The all-electric Lion5 defies Class 5 with innovation
From the cab design to the electrical architecture to the chassis technology, the Lion5 is uniquely positioned to serve the market. This new all-electric commercial truck cab chassis has design features desired in GVWR (“Gross Vehicle Weight Rating”) Class 5, while offering configurations of 19,500 lbs. up through 26,000 lbs. (Class 6) GVWR. Whether requiring payload capacity, towing capability, or both, the Lion5 harnesses 315 HP, 2,360 lb-ft of torque, and can notably be equipped with a GCWR (“Gross Combined Weight Rating”) up to 30,000 lbs.
Drivers and passengers will appreciate the premium ride and handling performance derived from the Lion5’s low centre of gravity, well-balanced weight distribution front-to-back with the low cab forward (“LCF”) design and the LionBattery packs placement, as well as from the adaptive auto leveling 4-wheel independent suspension system standard equipped on select model variants. For added safety and traction management, the Lion5 has electronic stability control (“ESC”), traction control, hill start assist,and a limited slip differential.
At the front, the Lion5’s cab provides considerable roominess, at 96-inches wide, and has been purposefully designed to be stationary with a cutaway configuration option enabling seamless passthrough between the cab and any suitable body upfit. When it comes to exiting the vehicle, Lion engineered the steps to form into the cab for immediate visibility from the driver’s or passenger’s seat when their respective door is open. Adding to the safety and ease of entering and exiting, the adaptive independent suspension variants have a programmable feature that lowers the vehicle 3-inches when opening the door.
The Lion5 has been engineered to be upfit with any suitable body application. Body builders have access to 4kW of low voltage and up to 32kW of high voltage when equipped with the optional provisioned ePTO (“electric Power Take-Off”) interface. For additional flexibility, upfitters can choose from multiple LionBattery pack placement configurations, depending on build specification selections.
LionBattery powers the future for Lion Electric
First installed on the Lion5, the LionBattery is an 800v proprietary battery system comprised of a battery management system (“BMS”), a battery thermal management system (“BTMS”), and battery modules and packs. The LionBattery has been specifically designed to optimize performance, integration, and packaging throughout Lion’s complete portfolio of commercial trucks and buses. In the Lion5, it will deliver a range of up to 200 miles, while having the capability to be charged to 80% in 1.5 hours.
