UK company goes for converted electric Ford Transit vans for landscaping duty
Click above for high-res gallery of the converted Ford Transits
If the smaller Ampere electric van (a converted Ford Transit Connect) just doesn't offer enough carrying capacity for all your rakes and shovels, then take a page from Continental Landscapes. The UK-based company recently purchased four of the larger Transit vans for use in their landscaping business. Continental purchased two 4.6-ton Ford Transit beaver tail and two 3.5-tonne tippers, all of which were converted by the old hands at Smith Electric Vehicles and have lithium ion iron phosphate battery packs and a 90-kilowatt induction motor that provide a 100-mile range between charges. The vans have a top speed of 50 miles per hour. The reason for the purchases? A desire to reduce operating costs and emissions. The plan is to use these vans for about 5,000 miles each year, so the company should find out soon if this measure works.
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[Source: Nobull Communications]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Stan Wellaway 9:48AM (2/04/2009)
Old hands? I presume that's a reference to the length of time they've been in business, rather than to the age of the workforce.
Unlike most of the current players, Smith have been making electric vehicles for 85 years - in which time they are estimated to have quietly shipped about 70 thousand of them worldwide (!)
Check out the Case Studies page at their website http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com to see some of the 400 or so that have been put to various uses in the past 18 months.
Shareholders in Smith's parent company, Tanfield group, are eagerly waiting to hear if they are involved in Ford's proposed 2010 electric van for the US market. A decision which might be announced at one of the two Chicago shows. The car show opens in just over a week and the Work Trucks show is early next month. Smith will have a significant presence at the latter, where they are sponsoring the Green Trucks zone and providing ride-and-drive vehicles.
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Tim 9:54AM (2/04/2009)
"The reason for the purchases? A desire to reduce operating costs..."
The will save money on fuel, but how much more do these cost than regular diesel vehicles?
The increased debt-service must be factored into the monthly budget. At only 5K miles/yr., how long will it take them to break-even? Will that happen before the vehicles reach end of life? Will the company still be around? What is their tax depreciation rate and what will be their resale value when the time comes.
Is this an economically sound business decision (not including nebulous P.R. value), are they just green washing, or are they poor business men who are hoping to go to the gov’t for a taxpayer bail-out in a few years? Maybe they want the taxpayers to buy these vehicles for them?
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Stan Wellaway 10:07AM (2/04/2009)
Tim,
At present they cost nearly twice as much as diesel trucks to buy.
But if you check out that Case Studies page at the Smith website, you will see that TNT Express (a large European delivery company, in the same market as UPS, Fedex, etc) bought 150 of Smith's electric vehicles. Mostly the 7.5 ton Smith Newton, but also some Smith Edison vans.
Hardheaded fleet managers don't do that for mere green credibility (that can be (and often is) achieved by buying a token few and surrounding them with hype). They have to make sense on economic and practical grounds when investing millions of dollars in that way.
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Tim 10:32AM (2/04/2009)
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for EVs! (please let EEStor be real)
I know that EVs are in the future of our transportation mix, but for general acceptance they MUST make economic sense for each intended (short range, multi-stop) application as well as ecologic sense for our being “good stewards” of our environment and common sense for our military and general economic security via energy independence.
We must use our minds as well as our hearts and ONLY the truly FREE (without monopolies or gov’t manipulation) market can do that.
Stan Wellaway 10:29AM (2/04/2009)
Incidentally, here is another image, which doesn't yet appear on the Smith website. The US-specification Smith Faraday http://i29.tinypic.com/307raqg.jpg
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