Tanfield American spinoff to begin building trucks this year
Click on the Smith Newton for a hi-res gallery
After scuttling an earlier plan to build trucks in the U.S., a new Tanfield Group announcement reverses that reversal. The company has just incorporated Smith Electric Vehicles (SEV) US Corp. and expects them to begin building copies of the Newton (above) in the U.S. sometime this year. In a shrewd move, Tanfield will hold 49 per cent of the company, thereby allowing the new U.S. majority-owned entity to qualify for government funding and other benefits.
Before it can begin building vehicles for the American customers that it is already in discussions with, it will have to have a plant. SEV US has received "firm expressions" from two States already and a site is expected to be announced soon. The Smith Newton is based on the Avia truck chassis and is the equivalent of U.S. Class 5 and 6 medium duty trucks. Though not stated, we expect that the trucks will be powered by lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo4) batteries from Valence Technologies of Austin, Texas. Official announcement to investors after the break.
Gallery: EVS23: Smith Electric Truck
[Source: Tanfield Group PLC via Green Car Advisor]
INVESTOR UPDATE:
Heads of Terms Regarding the Production of Electric Vehicles in North America
- Establishment of Smith Electric Vehicles US Corporation (SEV US Corp) in USA
- Tanfield to licence Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), brand and all existing sales and sales enquiries in North America, in exchange for 49% equity stake in SEV US Corp and per-vehicle royalties
- Royalties payable to Tanfield to be calculated as a percentage of the sales price of each vehicle
- An advance against royalties of £1m shall be payable to Tanfield on completion
- Fast and efficient Route to market at no cash cost to Tanfield
- SEV US Corp to fund establishment of US manufacturing, sales and marketing infrastructure
- SEV US Corp to commence production of Smith electric vehicles during 2009
- US majority owned company – qualifies for governmental funding and other benefits
Commenting, Darren Kell, CEO of The Tanfield Group Plc, said: "North America represents potentially the largest single market for our commercial electric vehicles. The establishment of Smith Electric Vehicles US Corporation will provide Tanfield with a fast, efficient and economically prudent route to market.
"The additional volumes which are anticipated to be generated by SEV US Corp will further strengthen the supply chain, while offering additional cost savings via shared procurement and shared supplier development."
For further information:
The Tanfield Group Plc +44 (0)845 1557 755
Darren Kell, CEO
Charles Brooks, FD
Arbuthnot Securities +44(0)20 7012 2000
Nomad and Broker
James Steel/ Katie Shelton
The Tanfield Group Plc, the leading manufacturer of aerial work platforms and commercial electric vehicles, is pleased to announce the incorporation of Smith Electric Vehicles US Corporation (SEV US Corp).
Tanfield has signed Heads of Terms regarding the establishment of SEV US Corp, the funding of SEV US Corp, the licence of intellectual property rights to SEV US Corp, and the provision by Tanfield of support services.
SEV US Corp will be a privately-owned company, in which Tanfield shall following the placing of new shares in SEV US Corp described below have a 49% stake.
Tanfield shall licence to SEV US Corp the North American intellectual property rights relating to the production of its Smith product range. SEV Corp will pay a per-vehicle royalty fee to Tanfield based on the sales price of each commercial vehicle with an initial advance of £1m. Tanfield retains responsibility for design capability and intellectual property development. Furthermore, SEV US Corp can draw on Tanfield for various services and support functions, for a fee to be agreed.
The Heads of Terms anticipates a total fund raising of $10m, which will be achieved through the issue of new shares in SEV US Corp to investors and through the availability of State funding. Tanfield shall retain a 49% interest in SEV US Corp. Closing of the transaction is conditional upon: i.) funding; ii.) agreement over the terms of the IPR licence, Services Agreement and Shareholder Rights Agreement for SEV US Corp.
SEV US Corp has received firm expressions from two States, of funding support for a production facility. It will announce a final location for this facility shortly.
As a 51% American-owned business, SEV US Corp qualifies to apply for the substantial Federal and regional funding currently available for electric vehicle manufacturers in the USA.
The company is in discussions with a number of customers within the North American market.
SEV US Corp intends to commence production of the Smith Newton truck for sale in North America during 2009, with further zero emission product lines to follow in the truck, van and light van sectors. The Smith Newton is based on the Avia truck chassis and is available in configurations from 7,500kg to 12,000kg gross vehicle weight, or 15,500lbs to 25,000lbs, which equate to US Class 5 and 6 medium duty trucks.
Tanfield expects that SEV US Corp will produce a moderate number of Newton trucks in 2009, for sale as seed vehicles into targeted major fleet operators.
The Board of SEV US Corp will comprise five executive members, including two Tanfield Board members; Geoff Allison, Managing Director of the Zero Emission Vehicles Division and Dr John Bridge, Non-Executive Director.
The CEO of SEV US Corp will be Bryan Hansel, previously CEO of evo Medical Solutions, a medical devices manufacturer based in Des Moines, Iowa. Bryan has a track record of bringing new technologies to market in North America, across industries including healthcare, technology and transportation.
The remaining two Board members will be Bruce Shalett, Managing Partner of Lincoln Woods Capital Management and one additional member to be named by SEV US over the coming weeks.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeff 1:26PM (2/08/2009)
I wonder what this means for other Smith EV products with respect to Ford's plans for an electric commercial van. Smith makes the Ampere and the Edison which are electric versions of the Transit Connect and Transit, respectively. Meanwhile, Ford is bringing the Transit Connect to NA very shortly, while also promising an electric commercial van, and I assumed that just meant that they would soon be selling the Smith Ampere over here. But there's no mention of Ford in this press release from Tanfield. Is Tanfield likely to work in partnership with Ford or is Ford gonna go it alone on their electric van plans?
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gorr 2:25PM (2/08/2009)
Another hack of u.s taxpayers moneys with problematic technology that only taxpayers can invest in.
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Stan Wellaway 2:33PM (2/08/2009)
Good question Jeff! We might find the answer very soon. Ford is scheduled to reveal something or other at the Chicago Auto Show this week. That might involve naming their electric van partner or might not. And it might or might not be Smith!
Smith have a strong presence at the Work Trucks show in Chicago a couple of weeks later (they are sponsoring the Green Trucks zone there)
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Stan Wellaway 2:48PM (2/08/2009)
"....that only taxpayers can invest in.."
Gorr - you can't invest directly in SEVUS on the stockmarket, that's true. But as I understand it, the 51% being offered to US investors is still up for grabs if you wish to take a stake privately. Contact Lincoln Woods if interested in doing so.
Alternatively, you could take an indirect stake by buying shares in Tanfield Group - the London-listed UK company who will hold a minority stake in SEVUS.
And if you think the technology problematic, maybe you should take a look at the Case Studies page on the UK website of Tanfield's Smith division, at http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com where you will see a significant number of customers who appear to disagree with you. One of them has bought 150 of these trucks.
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gorr 5:47PM (2/08/2009)
I don't believe nor support state-traders like you. The money always end-up in middle-east
private kingdom and the taxpayer is left with ruin like the city of detroit or the white house office where they recently dicided to study an anormality for them to get rid of it, the human genome and abortion.
Max 5:07PM (2/08/2009)
Gorr is a retarded 10 year old with bad habit of smoking crack and watching FoxNews, don't bother with his comments.
I can only with the best to this company, I can't wait to see their products on the road !
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Jeff 6:48PM (2/08/2009)
So Stan, you and David Wright work for Tanfield I guess? Your comments are on sites all over the internet, and usually involve telling people about Smith EV and telling them to check out the website and to invest in them on the London exchange.... I'm not complaining, I just want your job! I already push Smith EV on forums myself just cause I think they're a promising company. I even put out their name in a potential University project for an electric van.
Anyway, all that to say is that I think I can trust you when you say Ford's got something to show us next week. Looking forward to it!
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Stan Wellaway 7:49PM (2/08/2009)
Steady on Jeff - you're jumping to some conclusions there!
I never tell anyone to invest in Tanfield. I merely point out that they can.
And I genuinely don't know if there is definitely a Ford/Smith US deal.
Ford themselves have stated that they have more than one item of news to release at the Chicago show. It might or might not be the news that Tanfield shareholders and followers are hoping for. It might be wholly unrelated. It's all speculative guesswork. I sometimes buy and sell a few Tanfield shares but I don't work for the company.
A tie-up between Ford and the new SEVUS company strikes me as slightly more likely than not. And I am hopeful that it might the case. But I'm not privy to any information that's not in the public domain -- I merely pull together snippets from lots of sources and draw my own tentative conclusions from time to time. I am a keen follower of EV progress and regard Smith as a leading player, so I'm happy to publicise what they do.
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Stan Wellaway 8:08PM (2/08/2009)
Steady on Jeff. Your are jumping to some conclusions there!
I don't work for the company, and I'm not privy to information that isn't in the public domain. I merely keep my ears and eyes open for hints and clues from numerous sources and make what I can of it. I don't tell anyone to buy shares in Tanfield, I merely point out that it's possible to do so. I sometimes hold a few myself, sometimes not. I am a keen advocate of EVs and regard Smith as a leading player in that field. As long as they remain so, I'm happy to draw attention to what they're doing.
Ford themselves have indicated that they have more than one item of news to announce at the Chicago show. I don't know if it includes what Tanfield shareholders would like it to be, or if it's wholly unrelated. If there is to be a tie-up between Ford and the new SEVUS company, I suppose the news may well come at one of the two Chicago shows. I am inclined to think a deal is more likely than not, but I don't know.
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Stan Wellaway 7:04AM (2/09/2009)
Apologies for sending that last message twice. I thought the first attempt had failed, after I had hit the submit button with an incomplete id address.
Going back to your original post, Jeff (Post No 1), it looks like SEVUS wasn't after all set up to allow Ford to name a US-based partner! It looks more like SEVUS will be used specifically for Smith-badged products, running separately from whatever Smith might be doing for Ford. We now have to wonder whether the Smith Edison (based on the bigger Ford Transit) will come to the US via SEVUS, badged as a Smith - or whether it will come badged as a Ford. Or whether perhaps Smith and Ford will both market different variants in both ranges under separate badgings.
Next question is what will Smith be displaying next month on its stand at the Work Trucks show?
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e tomsk 3:34PM (4/01/2009)
Well one things for sure Smiths won,t be building electric vehicles just to go and
crush them like GM did to the EV1 car and haveing watched who killed the electric car
on channel 4 last night GM should be ashamed of itself in what was clearly a smoke
screen to show they cared about our enviroment but was actually totaly against
electric vehicles and in the oil companeys pockets right from the start.
What wories me is these oil companey have the money to purchase the likes of
Tanfield that own Smiths Electric vehicles and any other prominent Electric
vehicle manufacturer out of their small change and if i was them i would hedge
my bets because if Obama does what he says and creates an Electric vehicle nation
the oil companeys are F***ed and im sure they are discussing this threat right now
in their boardrooms so eventually Electric vehicle manufacturers will either be the next
big thing or will slowly be purchesed and then slowly disolved to protect oil company
profits.
PS i do hope i am wrong.
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tom keaveney 5:10AM (5/25/2009)
Last week I bought 5000 euros worth of Tanfield shares.Because of the price of oil and because oil/oil products will never be cheap again perhaps Tanfield with their electric vehicle
technology will do very well in the future.I read where Tesla Motors produce an electric
sports car so perhaps the future for electric cars looks very good.The Teslla sports car is pure electric/hasup to 300 mile range and goes from 0-65 mph in 5.6 seconds. So the question that needs to be asked is will electricity power the cars of the future /Tesla motors seem to think so,or will it be hydrogen or ethanol.
If is to be electricity would it burden the current electric grid,also would electric cars be all that GREEN if it gets its power from coal fired plants.I think further research is needed.
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