Smith EV to Assemble All-Electric Trucks in Kansas City, MO.
"Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. Corp., a Delaware corporation headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., announced March 27 its plan to assemble all-electric zero-emission commercial vehicles in Kansas City. The new assembly plant will be located at a portion of an airline overhaul base at Kansas City International (KCI) Airport and is expected to create 120 jobs by 2010. Production of the first zero-emission commercial trucks is scheduled to begin third quarter of 2009.
SEV U.S. Corp will initially focus its production on battery-electric-powered vehicles for depot-based predictable-route delivery fleets."
Frito-Lay North America and Pacific Gas & Electric have already signed letters of intent to purchase the primary production model known as the 'Smith Newton'.
"It has a range of more than 100 miles and a payload of up to 16,280 pounds. The 50-mph vehicle will use a 120 kW drive system produced by Enova Systems, and a lithium-ion iron phosphate battery pack.
Smith is also working with Ford to electrify Ford's light-duty van, the Transit Connect. That vehicle has a top speed of 70 mph, a 100-mile range and a payload of up to 1,600 pounds. Production for that van is scheduled for next year."
Oops. Evil tax breaks for corporations may have been the deal maker in this job producing scenario: Missouri gives $3M in tax incentives for Smith Electric plant.
From a democrat governor! Oh, the horror.
It's unclear if Smith EV benefited from Pres. Obama's recently announced $2.4 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) designed to spur R&D in electric vehicle technologies.
What is clear is that someone needs to tell Ol' no clean burning coal Joe that all this electricity for recharging batteries still has to come from someplace.