Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. Corporation (SEV U.S. Corp), a Delaware corporation temporarily headquartered in Overland Park KS, plans to assemble and market all-electric zero-emission commercial vehicles in North America. SEV U.S. Corp will initially focus its production on battery-electric-powered vehicles for depot-based route delivery fleets.
SEV U.S. Corp has already received a strong expression of interest from fleet operators and as a result, the company is building a highly scalable assembly operation and supply chain to serve this emerging market. The company will soon announce a site for its production facility. SEV U.S. Corp will begin production using chassis from multiple vehicle manufacturers.
SEV U.S. Corp is a privately held company and is owned by U.S. investors and The Tanfield Group Plc, based in the United Kingdom. Tanfield is also the parent company of Smith Electric Vehicles, a manufacturer of zero-emission battery-electric commercial vehicles in Europe since the 1920s. Smith has produced the Newton truck in Europe for more than three years and has sold vehicles to major fleet operators in sectors such as mail and parcel delivery, logistics, retail, highway maintenance, and airports.
Through The Tanfield Group Plc, SEV U.S. Corp is working with Ford Motor Company to electrify the Ford Transit Connect as a BEV (battery electric vehicle) light-duty van scheduled for production in 2010.