Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada and ENGS Commercial Finance are providing financing to electric vehicle manufacturer Lion Electric for the company’s school bus and truck customers in the United States and Canada.
Mitsubishi HC Capital America is set to absorb ENGS Commercial Finance on April 1, with Mitsubishi HC Capital America remaining as the surviving legal entity, according to a Mitsubishi HC Capital release, while Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada will remain a subsidiary of Mitsubishi HC Capital America.
LionCapital Solutions, the financing arm of Lion Electric, is working with Mitsubishi and its subsidiaries to improve their electric vehicle financing process.
The agreement will allow LionCapital Solutions to leverage Mitsubishi’s vehicle financing expertise to create financing solutions specifically designed for Lion school buses and trucks, William Blanchard, head of LionCapital Solutions, said in a statement.
Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada is providing financing for Lion electric, but the company intends to finance charging infrastructure elsewhere, Jon Davies, vice president of sustainable development, commercial finance at Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada, told Equipment Finance Connect.
“We want to do the vehicle financing ourselves, but we want to also do all the charging infrastructure,” Davies said. “Commercial vehicles are so important to our business. You’ll see us involved with new technology.”
Eyeing sustainability
Electric commercial vehicles play a large role in Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada’s sustainability efforts because of their high usage volume, Davies said.
“Commercial vehicles are on the road all day long, especially delivery vehicles; if you think about the impact on emissions, it is much higher,” he said. “Commercial vehicles are expensive, and electric vehicles are more than double the price.”
Despite the expense, the North American heavy-duty electric vehicle market is growing, although its market share remains small, according to data from the International Energy Agency. Electric medium- and heavy-duty truck sales made up 0.3% of total registrations worldwide, or 14,200 sales, in 2021, according to IEA.
Electric truck registrations
“We’re seeing demand happen for these new commercial vehicles,” Davies said. “I think school buses are going to be the largest market for electric vehicles.”
In fact, the number of electric buses is a growing market in North America, according to CALSTART, a nonprofit consortium.
The count of full-size zero-emission buses (ZEBs) in the United States is 5,480, a 66% increase since 2021, according to a CALSTART report. The total number of Canadian ZEBs is 859, including 219 new full-size buses since 2021.
Electric bus registrations
“We want to bring down the monthly payment for school buses,” Davies said.
