Smith Electric Vehicles Launches Production of All-Electric Newton Step Van

Smith Electric Vehicles Corp. unveiled the Newton Step Van, an all-electric, zero-emission vehicle built on the versatile Newton platform that features a walk-in body produced by Indiana-based Utilimaster.

FedEx Express will be the first company to deploy the vans in the U.S.

The vehicle offers a gross vehicle weight of 14,000 pounds to 26,000 pounds and a range of approximately 100 miles on a single charge. It incorporates Smith's proprietary Smith Drive, Smith Power, and Smith Link technologies for power train performance, battery management efficiency and remote system monitoring.

"The leadership shown by FedEx in adopting all-electric vehicles has been instrumental to growing the industry," says Bryan Hansel, CEO and chairman of Smith. "We welcome FedEx and look forward to successful vehicle deployments that demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of fleet electrification."

The vans will be deployed in select U.S. markets throughout the remainder of 2012.