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Sep 8, 2017

TRUCKS MAKERS * Worldwide: Electric ones or out of play ?

* California - Truck makers face extinction if they don’t go electric
--- As the plug-in light passenger vehicle market expands, electrification is now creeping into the trucking segment … and established commercial truck manufacturers are already feeling the pressure of upcoming disruption to their business... Venerable industry suppliers are among the most “susceptible” ... Range is still a major issue for trucks, so the electrification has begin with smaller trucks with regional depots (equipped with charging stations), but there are new players on the horizon: 

  * Tesla semi to debut this month and in the future it will be autonomous * Toyota is working on hydrogen fuel cell semi truck
 * Nikola Motors promissing long-range hydrogen fuel cell truck with a 320 kWh battery
 * Cummins outlines plans for electric powertrains by 2019 * Daimler began production of Fuso eCanter small truck
 * Sweden (T-pod): Even an autonomous electric truck project out of 

 ...  As we see it, electric trucks will probably follow in the foot steps of electric buses, which are already taking sales from traditional business manufacturers in California and other states... EVs are still of course more expensive to initially buy, and have some range and charging issues, but the regular maintenance costs, and energy costs to operate are much, much lower. Also the driving experience is unparalleled... As fleet managers and operators more and more see the operational benefits, the change (as with e-buses) will likely be swift when it arrives...
(Photo: Toyota Project portal hydrogen fuel cell semi truck)  --  CAL, USA - Inside EV's, by Mark Kane - 5 Sept 2017

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Aug 12, 2017

ELECTRIC LIGHT TRUCKS * China - CHANGE brand

* Hangzhou - A new all-electric delivery truck is on the way, and it's not from Tesla
--- Chanje’s vision sounds a lot like Tesla’s: electric vehicles recharged via clean rooftop solar power... But the new company it’s entering what it believes to be a lucrative niche in medium-duty electric trucks... Few such trucks exist. Most medium-duty electric trucks are internal-combusion vehicles hand-converted to run on electric motors and batteries... Chanje’s trucks are not concept vehicles or prototypes. They’re ready for sale, and the Los Angeles company plans to begin selling or leasing them within weeks... Chanje is 49% owned by Hong Kong-based FDG, a maker of battery cells, battery packs and vehicles in China. Already, FDG has sold a couple of thousand Chanje vehicles in China, under the brand name Chang Jiang... Those vehicles, built in a 4 million-square-foot factory in Hangzhou, China, are shuttle buses. But the underlying platform on all Chanje vehicles was designed to be easily lengthened or shortened to accommodate vehicles of different lengths and body styles... 
(Photo from Chanje: A Chanje all-electric delivery truck. This model can carry 6,000 pounds and has a range of 100 miles)  --  Los Angeles, CAL, USA - LA Times, by Russ Mitchell - 10 Aug 2017

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Aug 1, 2017

ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKER NEWS * Europe: New production for the FUSO E- CANTER

* Portugal - Mitsubishi Fuso starts building electric truck in Europe

--- Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) has celebrated the start of production of what it claims is the world's first all electric light duty truck, the Fuso eCanter... Fuso, once part of the giant Japanese Mitsubishi group is today a Daimler Trucks Asia brand and Canters for Europe and the US are produced in Tramagal, Portugal... The plant covers 160,000 square metres where 400 employees produce trucks for 30 European countries, Israel, Morocco and Turkey. Almost 95% of the vehicles are exported. Since 2012, the plant has also built the Canter Eco Hybrid... 
(Photo: Guests an the official opening ceremony inspect one of the early eCanter chassis off the line) -- Tramagal, Portugal - Just Auto, by Graeme Roberts - 28 July 2017

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Mar 21, 2017

World’s first all-electric heavy duty truck * Germany: By Mercedes-Benz

* Stuttgart - Mercedes-Benz eTruck trials begin

--- The world’s first all-electric heavy duty truck is set to go into limited production later this year, with trials taking place in the German market before being rolled out to cities across Europe... The Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck was first shown at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Hannover last September, and the brand’s parent company, Daimler, has committed to putting it into small scale production, with a build number initially in double figures... The Urban eTruck has a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 25 tonnes and is claimed to have a range of up to 200 miles depending on load and operational conditions... With a payload of 12.8 tonnes, the Urban eTrucks will be deployed in real-life transport situations, with Daimler aiming to get customer feedback and measure how the eTruck performs in a true working environment. Charging times, battery life, range and system configurations will all be closely managed and observed... 
Stuttgart, Germany -  Transport Parts (Ireland), by Padraic Deane - March 6, 2017

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Nov 5, 2016

ELECTRIC TRUCKS ASSEMBLED IN 4 hours * UK: "CHARGE" brand

* England - The trucks will be available in different sizes and will offer payload capacities ranging from 3.5 tonnes to 26 tonnes
--- Charge, a British electric manufacturer has come with electric trucks that can be assembled with ease. As per the vehicle manufacturer, the whole truck assembly process requires just one person and 4 hours of time... Denis Sverdlov, CEO of Charge vehicles said, "We find trucks today totally unacceptable. At Charge we are making trucks the way they should be – affordable, elegant, quiet, clean and safe.".. The trucks will be available in different sizes and will offer payload capacities ranging from 3.5 tonnes to 26 tonnes. This new line of commercial vehicles from Charge is reported to be built using revolutionary ultra-lightweight composite materials. The hardware and motors are custom built by the electric vehicle maker... Charge claims the new inputs will help cut operation costs by 50 percent... 
(Photo: The trucks will be first introduced in London as the company is planning to build 10,000 trucks every year) -- London, EN, UK - - The DECCAN CHRONICLE - Nov 4, 2016

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Nov 1, 2016

TINY TRUCKS by * CHINESE STARTUP

* Beijing - Meet the chinese startup that wants to take on Ford with a tiny electric truck

--- In the woods on the outskirts of Beijing, Wang Chao, the ambitious founder of Chinese startup Kaiyun Motors, is behind the wheel of a tiny electric-powered truck he helped design, zipping up and down bumpy terrain with a big smile on his face...  The vehicle, he says, "will be as, if not more, successful" than Ford Motor Corp.'s legendary F-150 pickup. But unlike the gas guzzler, the diminutive Pickman runs on electricity...  Wang's little-known company has sold 5,000 of the battery-powered trucks across China since May and he says it has received more than 100,000 orders. With more than 200 companies racing to develop new-energy vehicles in the world's most competitive autos market, Kaiyun is one of the few companies to reach the retail stage. It plans to sell a million vehicles over the next five years... A lack of regulation has made China a bit like the Wild West when it comes to electric-vehicle production and funding, leading to a proliferation of cheap, poorly made models. Despite the fact there is currently no legal framework that allows low-speed EVs onto the roads, about a million are produced each year according to China’s Standardization Administration—a far higher figure than the 340,471 road-legal electric vehicles produced in 2015... Change, however, is afoot. The government said in October that it plans to regulate the industry, drawing up benchmarks that producers will be required to meet, or face closure. Legislation can then be formulated that will allow low-speed vehicles to be used on the roads... 
(Photographer: Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg - Kaiyun Motors founder Wang Chao drives the Pickman truck, which is 3.2 meters long and 1.3-meters wide and weighs just 680 kilograms)  --  Beijing, China - Bloomberg News - October 31, 2016

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Sep 9, 2016

VOLKSWAGEN + Anhui Automobile = A joint venture to make electric cars in China

* Shanghai - Volkswagen in talks to make electric cars in China
--- Volkswagen AG is exploring a joint venture to make electric cars in China with a state-run company, part of its aggressive push into electric-vehicle production as the auto maker works to resolve its emissions cheating scandal... The German car maker signed a memorandum of cooperation with China Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. for a potential partnership, the companies said in separate statements. Jianghuai said the two will be equal owners of the joint venture, and hope to reach a formal agreement within five months... The company is targeting sales of a million electric vehicles a year world-wide by 2025... Volkswagen, which derives more than a third of its global vehicle sales from China after three decades of operations there, currently has two car-making partners in the country: SAIC Motor Corp. in Shanghai and FAW Group Corp. in the northeast. Under government rules, foreign car makers must tie up with local partners to produce cars... (Photo: VW e-Up electric car) -- Shanghai, SH, China - The WSJ (USA) - Sept. 7, 2016

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Apr 26, 2016

ELECTRIC TRUCK MAKERS * UK: "Charge"

* Oxfordshire - British electric truck maker ‘Charge’ announces global partnership with Formula E

-- Charge the British based automotive technology company and maker of “smart electric trucks” today announces a global sponsorship with Formula E to become the official electric truck partner effective immediately... The agreement will see Charge supply electric trucks to all Formula E circuits in flagship cities worldwide... Charge is re-defining the way trucks should be made with a fully integrated software solution that enables the hardware to be instantly upgraded with every aspect of the vehicle connected... Charge is based in Oxfordshire surrounded by the most advanced automotive technology companies. Charge aims to create hundreds of jobs in the UK and will continue to grow as the company scales its production significantly over the coming months... This partnership was announced to coincide with the Paris agreement and World Earth Day - two large-scale efforts to reverse climate change... 
Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK - Motorsport - 24 April 2016

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Nov 2, 2015

ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKERS * Europe: Canters pass the 100km range

* Portugal - Fuso trial reports 64 per cent cost reductions and zero vehicle CO2 emissions

("The Canter E-CELL – completion of a Portuguese customer trial", from FUSO Trucks Europe - Jul 31, 2015: One year after the hand-over of eight FUSO Canter E-CELL to selected customers, the trials for the battery-electric-powered “Zero CO²” vehicle were officially completed in Portugal on June 30, 2015. The capabilities of these electrically-powered light-duty trucks were put to the test under a wide range of conditions proving that the Canter E-CELL is adequate for everyday use in short range delivery and inner city transportation -Music "Make Merry" by Amphibious Zoo Music/iTunes) 
-- Daimler’s European Fuso arm has completed a 12-month field trial of Canter E-Cell electric trucks in Portugal, reporting a 64 per cent reduction in operating costs and no CO2 emissions on site... The trail monitored the daily performance of eight vehicles, each with platforms and box bodies, operated by couriers, freight forwarding agents, and municipalities and public works departments... Travelling on average 50km per day, and with the ability to extend the distance to 109km, Fuso says the results demonstrate that electric-powered vehicles can be used in urban delivery capacities... This distance can be achieved without producing CO2 emissions during operation, the truck maker says, and by reducing emissions by 37 per cent compared to diesel after taking into account the process of producing the electricity in Portugal... 
(Photo: Fuso's Canter E-Cell) -- Tramagal Portugal - Fully Loaded (Portugal) - 2 Nov 2015

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Oct 8, 2015

ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKER NEWS UK * Charge R&D Ltd's

* Oxfordshire - New concept electric truck and bus platform enters testing programme

-- A revolutionary range extended electric truck and bus chassis from a new to the industry business begins its testing programme in the UK this month before being readied for commercial operations... The company involved, Charge R&D Ltd, has substantial financial backing from Kinetik, a new $500 million international investment company. Charge, headquartered in Enstone, Oxfordshire, UK, is developing electric powertrains for commercial vehicles and its platform offers game-changing driveline and vehicle solutions... It has two unique propositions that give it an edge over other solutions: cost and scalability. First, Charge’s product is expected to come to market at a price comparable to a conventional carbon fuel solution (excluding the battery cost); and secondly, it is designed to work in vehicles from 2.5 to 26 tonnes... 
(Photo: Charge Electric Truck UK Haulier) -- Enstone, Oxfordshire, UK - UKHAULIER - 6th October 2015

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Jun 6, 2015

ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * Sweden: Scania's

* Sweden - Scania to test electrically powered trucks in real-life conditions

-- In February 2016, Scania will start testing electric trucks on the electric road which will become a reality as the Swedish Transport Administration has now approved support for the Gävle Electric Road project. The project will demonstrate and evaluate conductive technology, which involves electrical transmission through overhead lines above vehicles equipped with a pantograph power collector... The investment in the Gävle Electric Road project is in line with the Government’s goal of an energy-efficient and fossil-free vehicle fleet by 2030 and will help to strengthen Sweden’s competitiveness. The project consists of about SEK 77 million in public financing combined with about SEK 48 million in co-financing from the business community and the Gävleborg region... Scania’s trucks will operate goods transport services on a two-kilometre test route, which is being built between the Port of Gävle and Storvik along European highway 16. The trucks are equipped with an electric hybrid powertrain developed by Scania... Power to the trucks is transferred from overhead lines through a pantograph power collector mounted on the frame behind the cab. This technology has been developed by Siemens, which since 2013 has conducted trials of electrified trucks together with Scania at its research facility outside Berlin... 
(Photo: Scania and Siemens electrically-powered experiment truck with current collectors)  --  SÖDERTÄLJE, Sweden - BUSINESS WIRE - June 04, 2015

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Apr 20, 2015

ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * UK: Tevva trucks - * Australia: Smith Electric's trucks

* England - Tevva Motors debuts low-emissions truck

(Image: A prototype Tevva truck in the CV Show, this week)
 -- What its maker claims is the first practical, economically viable low-emissions 7.5 tonne delivery truck made its public debut at the CV Show this week... Tevva Motors, (originally Teva Motors) was set up by Israeli entrepreneur Asher Bennett in 2012 to develop an electric range-extended 7.5-tonne truck. The prototype, competed in January, attracted “lots of interest and an over-whelming positive response” at the CV Show according to Tevva’s business project manager Richard Lidstone-Scott... This pure battery-electric truck makes an electric 7.5-tonner operationally viable and commercially attractive. It involves a pair of lithium-ion batteries, mains- charged overnight, powering an electric traction motor with reduction gearbox.This drives the truck’s standard rear axle via a shortened prop-shaft...
The batteries alone provide a range of up to 130km but a 1.6-litre Ford diesel engine charges the batteries too, typically during the stem part of the route into an urban delivery area where the truck would run in zero-emission mode solely on battery power, returning to base with the diesel engine charging again. A predictive energy management system determines the best use of the diesel engine to deliver optimum battery performance. This strategy is reckoned to prolong battery life to around 10 years, give virtually unlimited daily range and make best use of cheap overnight electricity for charging... 
Brentwood, Essex, EN, UK - Commercial Motor, by David Wilcox - 17 April 2015


* Australia - Smith Electric looks to plug into future with Melbourne assembly plant

-- Electric truck maker Smith Electric says Melbourne is a leading candidate to house a local assembly plant provided the company can secure enough orders... Smith would open a local assembly plant employing up to 40 ­people provided it could secure about 1000 vehicle orders ­annually... In the USA, Smith Electric CEO Bryan Hansel said, its ­vehicles are selling to snack food giant Frito Lay and global delivery service FedEx... Toll has been trialling a 10-tonne truck in Brisbane but is yet to commit to any orders... The converted Avia truck is powered by a Lithium-ion 80kW battery, which gives it a range of about 130km and a six-hour recharge time. Larger batteries can give the truck a range of about 240km — ideal, says Mr Hansel, for daily urban delivery routes... Larger electric vehicles have struggled to win over users mainly because of their much higher price tag...
(Photo: Smith Newton electric truck) -- Melbourne, VIC, Australia - The Herald Sun, by John Dagge - APRIL 19, 2015

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Apr 1, 2015

ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * Germany: 40 ton truck by BMW

* Bavary - BMW readies 40-ton all-electric truck for deployment on city roads


-- The Bavarian automotive giant has just announced that as part of a one-year pilot project, a 40-ton (36-tonne) all-electric drive truck will begin making deliveries on public roads in Munich from mid-year... Fuel costs are going to be both a big concern for trucking companies, and also one of the areas where improved efficiency will reap great benefits... The truck is based on the Terberg Type YT202-EV 4x2, which BMW has licensed for road use so it can be used for just-in-time material transport covering a distance of almost 2 km (approximately 1.2 miles) one-way between SCHERM Group facilities and the BMW Plant in Munich – a trip it is expected to make eight times a day... Thanks to the all-electric drivetrain, the BMW truck is quiet, CO2-free and produces effectively no particle pollution. If you compare that to a normal diesel truck, it's almost laughably good. The new electric truck will generate 11.8 tons (10.7 tonnes) less CO2 per year. That's the amount of CO2 put out by a BMW 320d diesel sedan after three around-the-world trips... 
(Photo: The Terberg Type YT202-EV, 4x2, which BMW will electrify for road use in Munich from mid-2015)  --   Munich, Bavary, Germany - Gizmag, by Tony Borroz - March 24, 2015

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Jan 16, 2014

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA: December Sales - Viridian EV truck

* Indiana - ACT December truck orders climb 51% 31,800 - Best since 2011

Columbus,IN,USA -HDMA -January 13, 2014: -- The Class 8 industry ended 2013 on a high note, as December truck orders surged 51% from year-ago levels, reinforcing manufacturers’ views that more growth could be coming in 2014... North American truck makers last month pulled in about 31,800 net orders, the strongest total since April 2011 and second-highest since the 2006 “pre-buy” event ahead of new federal emissions standards, ACT Research Co. reported... Analysts, including Tam, attributed the spike to large fleets and leasing companies placing big orders, original equipment manufacturers offering incentives and, to a smaller extent, a rush to buy equipment before the year-end expiration of bonus depreciation that allowed fleet owners to write off 50% of the cost of new equipment purchases during the first year of ownership... Ann Duignan of J.P. Morgan said the relative old age of the North American truck fleet also supported higher demand...


* California - Viridian, Green Automotive team up on small EV truck

(Photo: Viridian Motor Corporation EV Work Truck)
Riverside,CAL,USA -AutoblogGreen, by Jon LeSage -Jan 15th 2014: -- Green Automotive Company continued to diversify its electric vehicle portfolio through investment in electric truck manufacturer Viridian Motor Corporation... GAC has acquired 21.63% of Virginia-based Viridian and brings engineering and design experience in the electric truck market from its Liberty Electric Cars business... California-based Newport Coachworks will launching its first electric shuttle bus in February and will utilize Viridian's presence on the East Coast. While little trucks like this aren't exactly the sexiest vehicles in the world, there is a market for practical EVs like this. Viridian's press release cites a recent Navigant Research market study predicting annual global sales for electric and hybrid trucks will rise from under 10,000 in 2013 to more than 100,000 in 2020...

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Aug 24, 2013

ELECTRIC TRUCK MAKER * USA - Smith's Vehicles in Taiwan

* Missouri - Smith Electric Vehicles to form JV in Taiwan

Kansas City,MO,USA -Fleet Owner -Aug. 23, 2013: -- Smith Electric Vehicles has signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture with Taikang Technology Corp. in Taiwan. The venture will produce 5,000 electric vehicles in the country over the next three years, Smith said... Taikang has expertise in upfitting specialized municipal commercial vehicles... The agreement covers assembly and distribution of all-electric vehicles in Taiwan. The vehicles will be Smith Electric branded... The initial trucks will be Newton and Edison model vehicles configured for garbage pick-up and transport...

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Jul 6, 2013

* USA - ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKERS NEWS

* California - Boulder EV rolling out vehicle-to-grid charging in electric trucks

(Photo: Boulder ev electric truck) Los Angeles,CAL,USA -AOI Autos, by Jon LeSage -Jun 28th 2013: -- After working with Coritech Services on a bi-directional DC fast charging solution, Boulder Electric Vehicle says it's now the first-ever electric truckmaker to successfully implement Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) charging. The two companies displayed an electric flatbed utility truck equipped with a Tesla-sized 72-kWh lithium battery pack and a Coritech 60-kW DC fast charger at the Alternative Clean Transportation Expo in Washington, DC this week...

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Jun 12, 2013

* USA - ELECTRIC TRUCKS with batteries to recharge and discharge energy

* Missouri - V2G may boost ROI for electric trucks

(Photo: An Smith Electric truck)
Kansas City,MO,USA -Fleet Owner, by Sean Kilcarr -Jun. 12, 2013: -- An effort by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to test “vehicle-to-grid” or “V2G” technology on all-electric trucks starting this year may breathe new life into the cost-saving potentials for such equipment, according to Bryan Hansel, CEO for Smith Electric Vehicle Corp.... “This technology potentially creates another revenue stream for all-electric trucks, which would significantly improve their update ROI [return on investment]” ... Back in January, the DOD announced it would spend $20 million on a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) – cars and trucks alike – that incorporated V2G technology so they could both import and export energy, thus offsetting their higher cost relative to conventional petroleum-powered equipment... The DOD said it expected not only to use all-electric cars and trucks to fulfill a variety of daily service tasks but also to use them when not in operation as “re-supply points” providing stability to stressed electrical grids at times of peak demand and, in the process, generating a financial return for the government... Smith’s Hansel told us, “Typically, all-electric trucks feature a ‘unidirectional’ battery system, so energy can only flow one way -- to recharge their batteries,” he explained. “A bidirectional system allows the batteries to recharge and to discharge energy to the electrical grid to which they are plugged into” ... 


* Georgia - Battery manufacturer Exide Technologies files for bankruptcy 

(Photo: Electric Storage Battery Company advertisement for Exide batteries in the journal Horseless Age, 1918) 
Milton,GA,USA -Bloomberg News/Transport Topics -10 June 2013: -- Heavy-duty truck and automobile battery manufacturer Exide Technologies filed for bankruptcy after environmental regulators in California shut down one if its lead-recycling plants... The company listed debts of $1.14 billion and assets of $1.89 billion in its Chapter 11 filing, Bloomberg reported... The lead-recycling plant was shut down in April by the California Department of Toxic Substances and Control, which said it did not comply with state health standards... According to the company's chief financial officer, Phillip Damaska, the plant shutdown and the company’s poor fiscal fourth-quarter performance made it apparent a successful Out-of-court restructuring was unlikely... The company has a short-term source for the lead it was getting from its California plant and is in the process of securing a long-term supply...

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Oct 19, 2012

ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKER NEWS * USA

* Missouri - CEO of KC EV Truckmaker Cancels its IPO but Pushes Ahead 

(Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters: President Obama tours the Smith Electric Vehicles facility in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday) 
Kansas City,MO,USA -HDMA -October 15, 2012: -- Bryan Hansel, CEO of electric-truck maker Smith Electric Vehicles, thought the investment community was on board with his plans for electrifying urban delivery trucks across America... But on the night of Sept. 20, Hansel had to pull the plug on Smith’s eagerly awaited initial stock offering, which was scheduled for the next day — an IPO he hoped would raise $77 million... His investors were wary that it would be mid-2013 before Smith could turn a profit on the hundreds of battery-powered commercial medium-duty trucks it has begun supplying the likes of Frito-Lay, Staples and Coca-Cola... “They told me, as a private company, they love us and love what we’re doing,” Hansel says. “But as a $50 million public company, we’re a risk, and they would have to discount our value. I didn’t know that that was their exact opinion until then. And I decided it would be better to wait” ...

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May 10, 2012

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA

* NY - Truck Cancellations Hit Two-Year High as Rebound Slows 

New York,NY,USA -Bloomberg, by Natalie Doss and Mark Clothier -May 11, 2012: -- North American heavy-truck orders are hitting a speed bump, with cancellations jumping to the fastest pace in about two years as a stagnating economic recovery prompts fleet owners to delay or scrap purchases... Buyers are being squeezed by slower cargo volumes, tighter credit and diesel fuel prices exceeding year-earlier levels even with recent declines... Sales and earnings are at risk for Paccar, whose brands include Peterbilt and Kenworth, and Navistar as high inventory and declining orders threaten production rates, according to Karen Ubelhart, a Bloomberg Industries analyst in New York... Navistar’s first-quarter loss widened more than analysts had estimated after the Lisle, Illinois-based company said it was recalling vehicles because of faulty brakes. Profit at Bellevue, Washington-based Paccar beat estimates as sales advanced 45 percent... 


* Louisiana - E-vehicle maker to open California plant 

(Image: Boulder's all Electric Delivery Truck)
Lafayette,LOU,USA -The Boulder County Business Report, by Beth Potter -May 8, 2012: -- Truck and van maker Boulder Electric Vehicle Inc. will open a new plant in Chatsworth, California, a suburb of Los Angeles... The Lafayette-based company leased a 27,714-square-foot building in Chatsworth last month... Boulder Electric Vehicle is expected to invest about $6 million in the California plant,  with a $3 million grant form the California Energy Commission sweetened the pot for the deal, according to the article... While no specific date was announced for the new plant to open, the first vehicle is expected to roll off the plant's assembly line in the first or second quarter of 2013... Boulder Electric's tag line is: "No oil. No pollution. No problem." ...

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Feb 21, 2012

ELECTRIC TRUCKS * USA / China

* Smith, Wanxiang, sign a letter of intent on e-buses and CVs

(Photo: Barack Obama visiting the Smith's Kansas City plant on July 8, 2010)
Kansas City,TXS,USA -Green Car Congress -February 20, 2012: -- Smith Electric Vehicles and Wanxiang Group announce investment and joint venture for electric school buses and commercial vehicles in China... The principal terms include a $25-million equity investment in Smith by Wanxiang and up to a $75-million investment in a joint venture between Smith and Wanxiang to develop, manufacture and commercialize all-electric school buses and commercial vehicles... Under the Smith brand, these vehicles will combine Wanxiang’s EV componentry technologies with Smith’s proprietary platform vehicle designs, including its Smith Drive and Smith Power systems. Both the investment and the joint venture are subject to the execution of definitive agreements and receipt of regulatory and other third-party approvals...

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