Lion Electric announced plans to build its new facility in May 2021, just as state lawmakers were negotiating the final details of CEJA. The Canadian-based company specializes in medium and heavy-duty all-electric vehicles, including electric school buses.
Speaking at the Lion plant Friday, Pritzker outlined some of the state’s EV manufacturing and workforce development programs included in CEJA, the 2021 law that will require 100 percent carbon-free energy production in the state by 2045. Among the events they attended in the U.K. was the Goodwood Festival of Speed, an annual motorsports festival in southeast England, where Pritzker said the delegation met with officials from many auto manufacturing companies, including some in the EV industry.
But he said the state’s clean energy initiatives, and CEJA in particular, have become big selling points when marketing Illinois to an international audience.