Tech in Trucking:  Electric power on full display

An all-electric medium-duty commercial truck by Smith Electric Vehicles is due to start rolling off a transatlantic production line this month, allowing the company to begin filling orders placed by U.S. companies ranging from utility corporations to beverage and snack distributors.

At a special event held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Smith Electric Vehicles U.S., which is owned by Private Investors Management and The Tanfield Group Plc, both based in Great Britain, showed off its Smith Newton all-electric commercial truck.

The Smith Newton is available with ratings of 16,535, 23,148 or 26,455 lb. GVW, and boasts a top speed of 50 mph with a range of just over 100 mi. on a single charge. It takes roughly six to eight hours to fully recharge its batteries.

Kevin Beck, Smith’s vp-business development, told American Trucker that the Smith Newton’s chassis and cab are built in the Czech Republic, then shipped to Smith’s assembly facility in Kansas City where the vehicle’s two lithium-ion battery packs (weighing anywhere from 7,392 to 16,280 lbs., depending on the truck’s GVWR), drivetrain, and 120-kilowatt induction motor are installed. It takes roughly two to three weeks from start to finish to build one Smith Newton, including shipment of the chassis and cab from Europe.

Beck noted the company plans to roll out an all-electric version of Ford Motor’s Transit Connect van in partnership with the automaker early next year.

Major corporations with significant private fleet operations, including Coca-Cola, AT&T and Frito-Lay along with utility companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric and Kansas City Power & Light, have ordered Smith Newtons. These companies view the truck’s zero-emissions profile as a good fit with urban medium-duty operations.

“We’ve been looking at using a mixture of alternative fuel in our fleet, from CNG [compressed natural gas] to hybrid-electric passenger vehicles and trucks,” Jerome Webber, vp-fleet operations for AT&T, said. “We conducted a six- to nine-month study looking at all the various alternatives to gasoline and diesel for our fleet and found all-electric trucks make a good fit in city operations. It gives us the potential to significantly reduce emissions while increasing our fleet’s overall fuel savings.”

—SEAN KILCARR, sean.killcar@penton.com