The name of the company is Smith Electric Vehicles, and they are about to change the way we think of commercial electric vehicles.

The electric van and truck manufacturer said today that it plans to build 10,000 zero-emission electric trucks a year in the United States by 2010.

The company is searching for a U.S. site of up to 300 acres to build a 500,000-square-foot assembly plant, test track and space for rolling stock. Smith already has a 70,000-square-foot plant in Fresno, Calif., with a 1,000-vehicle production capacity. The plant would also create about 500 new jobs.
Seems like they are gonna make a few enemies, but that comes with the territory. Someone once said ” Yes there is a cost to innovation, blood.” Now this is a bit extreme I know, but this is a reality. There will be lot’s of sources who make a lot of money selling the fuel that these trucks will no longer need. Cut out the need and you cut out the source.

“Electric vehicles offer a next-generation automotive industry for America,” Darren Kell, CEO of Smith’s British parent company, the Tanfield Group PLC, said in a statement. “Ten thousand vehicles a year is a substantial commitment, but we believe that is just the start. Our initial research shows that there is an addressable market in the U.S.A. of around 200,000 units a year for our commercial electric vehicles.”

Could you imagine?! 200,000 vehicles a year that no longer burn fossil fuels, no longer make emissions, and no longer feed the ever fattening belly’s of the oil industry?!?!? This would be a massive step forward in taking responsibility of our environment while not compromising our needs.

There might be a high cost to innovation, but it pales in the face of what ignorance and greed will cost us.