BRYAN HANSEL HAS little trouble convincing
potential customers that his electric
delivery trucks are street-ready. It's the
suppliers that challenge him.
"I've had to sell harder to my supply chain
partners than to our customers," the CEO of
Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. says. "That's
because they've been burned before."
Nearly all bis suppliers also sell parts or
equipment to makers of hybrid or electric
vehicles that fell short of sales and production
forecasts, he said.
"Electronic chip sets, there's a shortage.
High voltage connectors, there's a shortage,"
Hansel said. Most of the batteries that power
the Smith Newton are made in Asia. "We'd
love to buy batteries in the U.S., but there's
limited capacity here."
That's because demand has been low
until now, he said. "The constraint isn't raw
capacity, but belief that any given company
has a need" that's sustainable.
With steady orders and big-name customers
such as Staples and Frito-Lay, Hansel
said Smith Electric is starting to win the
confidence of suppliers and customers.
"We've never missed a month, so they're
taking our forecasts seriously," Hansel
said. Smith isn't trying to pkig in an entire
industry at once. Smith Electric's sales and
production numbers are extremely low compared
to diesel truck makers.