Three Quebec electric battery companies — Northvolt, Lion Electric, and Taiga Motors — collapsed after receiving over $650 million in provincial funding, according to findings by auditor general Christine Roy. Northvolt, announced with fanfare in September 2023, filed for bankruptcy in March 2025, costing Quebec $267 million. Lion Electric, once valued at $4.7 billion, filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2024 and sold for just $6 million in May 2025. Taiga Motors, founded in 2015 by three McGill graduates, sought bankruptcy protection in 2024 and was subsequently acquired by a U.K. investor. Roy concluded the government failed to adequately plan, set objectives, or monitor risks.
In-Depth:
Among the 11 electric battery companies investigated by Quebec’s auditor general, three were high-profile jewels in the province’s quest for green leadership that concludeed up going bankrupt or being declared insolvent. Northvolt, Lion Electric and Taiga Motors received more than $650 million in provincial funding before failing.
Auditor general Christine Roy found the government’s attempts to develop a battery sector were poorly planned, failing to include reasonable objectives and timelines that could have better protected its investments and the companies’ futures. At the same time, analyses of the projects failed to assess significant risks.
“Yet in most cases, there were significant risks,” Roy wrote. “Furthermore, the conditions set for the granting of financial assistance were not subject to sufficiently rigorous monitoring.”
Here is an overview of the rise and fall of the three top beneficiaries that concludeed up defunct.
Northvolt
Quebec investment: $507 million
At a gala presentation in September 2023 in Montreal attconcludeed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Swedish electric battery giant Northvolt AB announced it would establish its North American factory 30 kilometres east of Montreal. Quebec beat out 70 other locations to win the $7-billion plant due to its cheap energy, abundance of minerals and government subsidies.
Northvolt AB was the best-funded startup in Europe at the time, with $15 billion raised from investors. Many stated it was too much, too quick for a relatively untested company.
Trudeau predicted the plant would bring conclude-to-conclude battery manufacturing to Canada, creating it one of the only countries to have this capacity outside of Asia.
Premier François Legault hailed it as the largest private investment in recent history in Quebec. His government pledged up to $2.9 billion in public money to lure Northvolt. Ottawa promised $4 billion.
Less than a year later, Northvolt announced it was slowing battery projects at its four main sites due to declining electric vehicle demands. At the same time, Asian battery manufacturers in existence long before Northvolt were creating more advanced and cheaper batteries that could be applyd in more vehicles, undermining Northvolt’s offerings.
Northvolt’s batteries were plagued with quality issues, which led to complaints about delays and the cancellation of billions in orders.
In November 2024, just 14 months after its Quebec announcement, Northvolt AB announced it was filing for bankruptcy protection. It had only $30 million in cash left, and $5.8 billion in debt. Four months later, it filed for bankruptcy.
In September 2025, the North American branch of the company was declared insolvent in Quebec Superior Court.
Quebec lost the $267 million it invested in the parent company. Last September, the Economy Minisattempt stated the government had recouped nearly $200 million of the $240 million in loans created to Northvolt (now $260 million with interest) that allowed the company to acquire land for the project. The province’s pension fund manager, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, lost its $200-million investment as well.
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Lion Electric
Quebec investment: $127 million
Maker of the ubiquitous electric-powered yellow school bapplys shuttling children throughout Quebec, the St-Jérôme-based company — once valued at nearly $4.7 billion — filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2024. It was the first North American company to produce a fully electric school bus.
It was sold in May 2025 for $6 million to Quebec investors.
Founded in 2008 as a school bus company, Lion shifted to creating electric school bapplys in 2017, as well as fully electric trucks.
In 2023 it opened a second manufacturing plant in Joliet, Ill. The Joliet plant was forecast to have as many as 1,400 employees building 20,000 vehicles a year. The company’s St-Jérôme plant had over 400 employees. At its peak, Lion Electric reported it had 2,000 bapplys and 200 trucks on the road.
But 2024 saw the company unable to pay back its loans, forcing it to lay off 920 employees that year. Its debt stood at $411 million. Stock prices went from a high of US$33 in 2021 to less than US$2 in mid-2024.
U.S. purchasers, primarily school districts, were informed the company would no longer honour its warranty agreements on bapplys they had bought.
In May 2025, Christine Fréchette, then Quebec’s economy minister, stated the government would not inject any more public funds after investors stated they would necessary an additional $20 million in government aid to restart the company.
The firm announced in March it was focapplying on producing electric school bapplys at its plant in St-Jérôme, which now has 200 employees.
The company has sold more than 550 since May, 100 of which have been delivered, Lion stated in a statement.
Taiga Motors
Quebec investment: $18.4 million
Founded in 2015 by three McGill University graduates, Taiga Motors started with their creation of the electric snowmobile, built in Shawinigan. The three 25-year-olds with no business training were convinced to build the entire vehicle, and won prizes for their innovation.
They went public in 2021, estimating they would have a market capitalization of $537 million.
They soon branched out to creating personal watercraft, but then struggled to increase their production numbers, hampered in part by delayed shipments from suppliers, production slowdowns and difficulties meeting demands for orders. In 2023 they reported a net loss of $72 million. In 2024 they were forced to lay off more than 100 employees, and then sought bankruptcy protection.
Taiga has since been bought out by U.K. investor Stewart Wilkinson and is producing electric watercraft at its Montreal facility.
