Shyft to start building electric delivery van by mid-2023 -CEO

Shyft

08/02/2022 12:20

By Ben Klayman
    DETROIT, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Specialty vehicle manufacturer
Shyft Group Inc  SHYF.O  said on Tuesday it expects to begin
building a medium-duty electric delivery van at a plant in the
southeastern United States by mid-2023, marking another entry
into the commercial EV space.
    The company, based outside Detroit, will begin delivering
the custom-built electric vans in the second half of this year
to customers for testing, Chief Executive Daryl Adams told
Reuters.
    Details of the plant are still being finalized, but it will
have an initial annual capacity of 2,500 vans, and Shyft will
subsequently add similar factories in the West and middle of the
country, he said. 
    Shyft's van will have a driving range of 150 to 175 miles,
with the ability to enhance that with expanded battery options.
Adams declined to say which company would supply the batteries
or what the starting price for the van would be.
    Shyft said last June it eventually planned to offer an
electric van platform and subsequently said it would build a
Class 3 medium-duty electric delivery van from the ground up. It
has built custom chassis for about 50 years, and has converted
gasoline-powered vehicles into electric ones over the last
decade.
    With countries and regions like China and Europe pushing for
zero-emission vehicles and companies promising carbon neutral
operations over the next several decades, the push for electric
commercial vehicles has intensified. Large automakers like Ford
Motor Co F.N , General Motors Co GM.N  and Stellantis STLA.MI ,
as well as such startups as Rivian  RIVN.O  plan to build
electric vans. 
    Adams said most of those vehicles are smaller Class 2 vans,
and Shyft's decision to enter the Class 3 EV van space came in
response to demand from a customer base that includes United
Parcel Service  UPS.N , FedEx  FDX.N  and Amazon.com  AMZN.O .
The company has invested up to $75 million on the program.
    "Unable to find a viable EV chassis option in the market, we
decided to build our own," Adams said. 
    Shyft on Tuesday released teaser images of the van, which
will be shown at the NTEA work truck show in Indianapolis in
early March, after which it will begin taking orders for the
vehicle. 
    Shyft will also sell the platform used for the electric van
to other manufacturers who want to use it in other markets,
including recreational vehicles and municipal buses, Adams said.
    Prototypes of the vans will be built at Shyft's plant in
Plymouth, Michigan, before final production transitions to the
new plant. The location for that factory is being selected from
among three sites that Adams did not identify. 

 (Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit;
Editing by Bernadette Baum)
 ((benjamin.klayman@thomsonreuters.com; 313-600-2277; Reuters
Messaging: benjamin.klayman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))