Smith Electric Vehicles Corp., the maker of battery-powered commercial vehicles, filed for an initial public offering to raise as much as $125 million.
Smith Electric Vehicles has been building its battery-powered electric Newton trucks since 2009. Smith Electric has factories in Kansas City, Missouri, where it’s based, and near Newcastle, U.K.
So far it has landed customers including DHL, FedEx, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay and Staples, as well as contracts with the U.S. military.
The Newton costs between $80,000 and $90,000 in the U.S. if you include federal and state incentives, hauls as much as 16,000 pounds and goes from 50 to 150 miles per charge, which is suitable for many commercial fleets that can plan their routes and charging schedules in advance.
Sales of Newton trucks are expected to reach 1,000 this year, five times the 2010 deliveries, the company said in January, while it’s only sold about 320 over the past 12 months.
Smith reported $21.3 million in losses on revenues of $37.6 million for the first half of 2011.
