The idea of building an electric mountain bike emerged seven years ago in Trois-Rivières, but the company incubated in Shawinigan before returning to the regional capital because it was looking for premises of 20,000 square meters in the Lupel district to begin production. This pilot plant in the Cap-de-la-Madeleine sector has the capacity to produce 2,500 quads per year. Bastien Theron, president and CEO of the company, which brings together a dozen employees, is convinced that many of his electric quads will find buyers next year.
“A first year of production is a crucial year, but we will produce the maximum we are capable of. And we will sell several hundred.”
–Bastien Theron
The Reever is a utility quad designed primarily with Quebec parts, ensuring product quality. It is designed for robustness. This means it can perform different tasks, be it towing or off-road rescue.
“This is not a recreational vehicle. It’s a utility vehicle that you can have fun with,” says Mr Theron.
Philippe Lafontaine, operations manager, points out that Theron’s electric quad is attracting great interest in North America, but also in Central America, Europe and Africa.
“The vehicle is designed for the North American market. It is tested under the toughest conditions. As a market, we also target the army, national parks and maintenance services such as Melville Island Park and Saint-Quentin Island Park. There is good potential with the Sûreté du Québec.”
It may be robust and offer a range of 180km per charge, but the Reever still needs to be sold at a competitive price. And according to Mr. Lafontaine, this is the case with a base model costing $17,500, especially with estimated electricity costs of $35 per year.
“Since COVID, the prices of petrol vehicles have increased significantly. We are slightly higher average for a petrol vehicle.”
“There are no maintenance costs and no gas costs,” adds Mr Theron. “And it is a long-lasting vehicle: the batteries are designed for a service life of 100,000 km.”
Guillaume Parenteau, Vice President of Development at Energy Transition Valley, is obviously very positive about this company’s entry.
“An innovation zone brings together aspects of industry, entrepreneurship, knowledge and living environment to produce innovations. Obviously, Theron fits all of these goals. And the manufacturing aspect of the technology is extremely important. When we take responsibility for producing an industrial process, we take responsibility for all the knowledge associated with it,” says Mr. Parenteau, pointing out that more projects are on the table.
A larger factory in the medium term
The pilot plant will certainly be followed by a larger production facility in the medium term, says Bastien Theron. The pilot plant could be expanded using the Lupel district’s facilities. Theron EV could choose to base itself elsewhere and isn’t ruling out a return to Shawinigan for this phase of development. What is certain, however, is that the company will remain in Mauricie.
“It’s the best place. We are central. There is no Montreal traffic. There is no traffic from Quebec. We have access to the port and the train. We are residents of Mauricie. We have good synergies with the workforce pool, especially with UQTR for the innovation development component and the marketing commercialization component,” lists Mr. Theron.