Smith Electric (UK) Launching Electric Truck in U.S

Smith, the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial electric vehicles is launching a zero emission truck in the North American market.

The Newton is the first vehicle in its class that can compete with the diesel equivalent – but without the polluting effects of tailpipe emissions such as nitrogen oxide; particulate matter and CO2.

The Smith Newton, is the world's largest high performance electric truck, weighing in with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of over 24,000lbs. A bank of four suitcase-sized, “Zebra” 278v Sodium Nickel Chloride batteries and a 120 kilowatt motor quickly propel the vehicle up to its top speed of 50mph. The Newton can accelerate from 0-30mph faster than the equivalent diesel-powered truck. It is equipped with regenerative braking and has a range of 150 miles.

The Newton’s body panels are built from an ultra light, state-of-the-art fully recyclable composite material manufactured by Omnia. The panels, are a plastic honeycomb material said to weigh around 65% of GRP of the equivalent strength. This substantially reduces body weight and increases the payload capacity by as much as 7480lb. The vehicle has a payload capacity of up to 15,800lbs and is available in US truck Classes 5 through 7.

The Newton is the first vehicle in its class that can compete with the diesel equivalent – but without the polluting effects of tailpipe emissions such as nitrogen oxide; particulate matter and CO2.

Kevin Harkins, Sales Director for Smith Electric Vehicles, stated that although automobile manufactures believe that battery technology for mass-produced electric cars is some years away, Smith believes that for larger sized commercial vehicles the technology available today is perfectly suited.

Smith Electric already has a 70,000sq ft facility in Fresno, CA, which has the capacity to produce 1,000 vehicles.

It plans on establishing a major production facilIty in the U.S. with the capacity to produce up to 10,000 electicric vehicles per year by 2010. 

It has a 250,000sq ft facility in the UK which has the capacity for 1,500 vehicles in 2008, but the company is also looking for a larger UK base to take this up to 5,000 vehicles per annum, for the UK and Europe.

Smith launched its 2nd generation electric vehicles, Edison and Newton. Customers already signed up in the UK include DHL, Starbucks, the Royal Mail, TK Maxx, and CEVA Logistics, plus many household names yet to be announced.

Source The energy Blog.