costing a lot more, and I doubt that’s going to change,” he said. Once parts prices have gone up, they usually don’t go down. There might be some [relief] when fuel prices come down and there are more truckers on the road, but that’s a small fraction of the cost.” Brian Alexander, director of public relations for Lion
Electric Company, said the Quebec, Canada, electric bus manufacturer has escaped most supply chain pain because of the specialized nature of its product. “We’ve been affected but to a lesser extent than you hear about in the consumer auto industry and, really, the supply chain in general,” Alexander said. Alexander commented that one difference is the small-
er volume of vehicles that Lion Electric and other school bus OEMs produce in comparison to car and light truck makers. “We don’t do mass volume. One million F-150 trucks mean you need millions of microchips. We don’t produce that kind of volume, so it brings down the impact on microchips,” he said. “And because we’ve been de- signing electric vehicles since 2010 and building electric buses since 2016, we have a pretty robust line-up of sup- pliers. We have a very focused procurement group, and
we know what we need to get to build electric buses.” Alexander said the company is taking more steps to re-
duce further supply chain shocks, including adding more suppliers to its network, and building a battery-manufac- turing facility in Quebec that will be online later this year and a new vehicle factory outside of Chicago. Beyond its electric power source, the company’s buses are
also “designed to have commonality where possible” with combustible engine vehicles to reduce the need for special- ized training because mechanics already will be “as familiar as possible with them.” He continued, “And because the engine doesn’t need any of the 2,000 parts in a combustible engine, there’s far fewer parts to source or stock.” In time, Denoyer suggested, equilibrium will be restored
within the supply chain. “Overall, the U.S. economic out- look has slowed down. Obviously, that’s not a good thing, with the risk of recessions, but if nothing else, it should ease pressure on the supply chain,” he said. Oyster counsels exercising patience: “This, too, shall pass in the greater scheme of life,” he advised. “Those who are capable of creativity and a little extra effort, they’ll be fine.” ●
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