Smith Electric Vehicles Launches Production of All-Electric Newton™ Step Van With The Help of FedEx!

FedEx Express helps launch zero-emission step vans built on Smith’s Newton platform (KANSAS CITY, MO.) – March 6, 2012 – Smith Electric Vehicles Corp. (Smith), a global leader in all-electric commercial vehicles, today unveiled the Newton Step Van, an all-electric, zero-e mission vehicle built on the versatile Newton platform that features a walk-in body produced by Indiana-based Utilimaster. Smith announced the launch of the Newton Step Van in Indianapolis at the NTEA Work Truck Show, North America’s largest vocational truck and equipment event. FedEx Express will be the first company to deploy the Newton Step Vans in the United States. The Newton Step Van, an ideal solution for thousands of delivery routes in urban environments, offers a gross vehicle weight of 14,000 pounds to 26,000 pounds and a range of approximately 100 miles on a single charge. The vehicle incorporates Smith’s proprietary Smith Drive™, Smith Power™, and Smith Link™ technologies to provide superior power train performance, battery management efficiency and remote system monitoring.

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President Obama Highlights Energy Department Efficiency Training Centers That Save U.S. Manufacturers $5.6 Billion

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a visit to the University of Miami to highlight his administration’s all-out, all-of-the-above approach to American energy, President Obama today touted the Energy Department’s cost-cutting Industrial Assessment Program. The program supports university-based Industrial Assessment Centers (IACs) across the country, which provide students with critical skills and training to conduct energy assessments in a broad range of facilities, while producing real cost savings for small to mid-size manufacturers. To date, these assessments have helped save over 530 trillion BTUs of energy – enough to meet the energy needs of 5.5 million American homes – and have helped participating manufacturers save more than $5.6 billion in energy costs. “As President Obama made clear, an American economy built to last will depend on American manufacturing, American energy and skills for American workers,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “This is why the Energy Department invests in innovative initiatives like the Industrial Assessment Centers that help to train the clean energy workforce of tomorrow, while cutting energy waste for American businesses and making our manufacturing companies more competitive.”

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