Car blogs

Smith makes medium-duty electric trucks, and it has the market to itself. (Smith Electric photo)



Amazingly enough, dairy products in Britain are delivered by electric trucks called "milk floats," and have been for ages. A 90-year-old British company called Smith Electric makes those trucks, some of which have been on the road for 20 years or more. A fleet of 5,000 or more Smith trucks is working in the UK.



But Smith Electric Vehicles is British no more: On January 1, its Kansas City-based American subsidiary will complete a 51 percent buyout, leaving 49 percent in the hands of the UK-based Tanfield Group. That's good news, because Smith Electric is on a roll in the U.S. The company has developed a special niche ? medium-duty electric box trucks ? and it has orders for more than 200, including 176 for Frito-Lay and 41 for Staples. Other launch partners include Coca-Cola, AT&T and PG&E. They've all bought trucks, too, but CEO Bryan Hansel won't say how many.



I think Smith is a good bet, because no other company is currently playing in the same space and corporate America is looking to green its transportation fleets. If that can come with lower operating costs, so much the better. Ford has its Transit Connect electric van, but that's much smaller than the Smith trucks, which can be up to 24 feet long. And if the trucks were any bigger, it would be impractical to electrify them-18 wheeler EVs are not likely with current battery technology....

---

Smith Electric Trucks Could Transform U.S. Shipping was originally published by thedailygreen.com blog post feed. Read the full story by clicking here.