15.04.2008

Tanfield and Ford collaborate

Tanfield, owner of UpRight and Snorkel aerial lifts, has launched a new electric powered van in collaboration with Ford. The company’s Smith Electric Vehicles division has launched the Smith Ampere, a new product aimed at the light van sector.

The Ampere, utilises the Ford Transit Connect chassis, and will be joint branded Ford and Smith. It was designed and developed by Tanfield in collaboration with Ford and both companies will officially unveil it on their respective stands at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham, UK, today at 10am.

Ampere is a pure electric vehicle aimed at urban operators using large fleets of light vans, in sectors such as postal and courier, utilities and telecommunications. It has a gross vehicle weight of 2,340kg, with payload capacity of up to 800kg.

The van offers a range in excess of 100 miles on a single battery charge with a top speed of up to 70mph. It is powered by a 50 kilowatt electric motor and an Iron Phosphate lithium-ion battery pack. The new drive train and battery was developed specifically for Ampere.

Ford has already announced that it will launch the Transit Connect in North America and recently unveiled a taxi cab variant. Tanfield will concurrently launch the Ampere for sale in the USA. .

Tanfield will also launch the Faraday mark II today, specifically aimed at North America. Ford will supply a range of chassis for Faraday commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of up to 13,000kg. Production will start in the second half of 2008.

Tanfield has also reached a broad agreement with Ford to collaborate on future zero emission vehicle projects and is investigating further opportunities in sales, marketing and product development both in Europe and North America.

Darren Kell, chief executive of The Tanfield Group, said: "The launch of
Ampere brings leading edge zero-emission technology to the light van sector for the first time. Our relationship with Ford in North America will provide Smith with high quality chassis that will be recognisable to, and readily accepted by American customers.”

"Today's product launches will significantly increase the addressable market for our electric vehicles and are a major step towards our goal of offering a full global range of zero emission commercial vehicles, from light vans to medium duty trucks."

Steve Kimber, head of commercial vehicles for Ford of Britain, said: "As the UK market leader in commercial vehicles, it makes sound business sense for us to fully engage with the market leader in commercial electric vehicles.

"The Transit and Transit Connect are Europe-wide success stories for Ford. Demand for zero emission vehicles is growing exponentially as the battery and drive line technology improve their performance. Ford's collaboration with Tanfield places us in pole position to fully exploit this opportunity."