Will electric trucks succeed ? KC market ... * USA - ... To get a first look

A British company, Smith Electric Vehicles, hopes to transform the U.S. delivery market with electric trucks

Kansas,MO,USA -The Kansas City Star, by STEVE EVERLY -27 May 2009: ... Today, a British company that got its start making milk floats is in the middle of a business drama playing out in the United States — and Kansas City — that is likely to determine whether electric trucks become part of the American landscape... Smith Electric Vehicles is on track to begin building electric trucks in July at a plant near Kansas City International Airport. The company is betting that it will find sufficient demand because the delivery market is ideal for electric trucks... Daily routes are typically less than 100 miles, within range of a big electric battery’s charge and the trucks return to depots where they can recharge overnight... But within the promise lies a worry. If this ideal market can’t be cracked, that will cast doubt about the entire future of electric trucks in the United States... (Photo: A British company, Smith Electric Vehicles, hopes to transform the U.S. delivery market with electric trucks. The company says interest in its trucks is “huge.”)