does tanfield have 2 good businesses ( smith electrics and upright)which are good value for the medium to long term hold ?

Tanfield, the leading manufacturer of commercial electric vehicles and aerial work platforms, is pleased to announce that its trading division, Smith Electric Vehicles, has today received an order from J Sainsbury Plc ("Sainsbury's") for 51 Edison Electric vans.

About time too!

wow! 51 vans that should help their bottom line.

At least it is showing some signs of life.

London seems a good choice for start of a revival.

One could say it is a wheel in the right direction!

Up 15% - what happens if they sell 500 :-)

although plenty of spokes could still be put in the works

Hardly electrifying but it's something positive!

Skinny, I would get my money back!

Also, might believe in God!

Study Raises Cost Estimate for Electric Cars
By NICK BUNKLEY
Published: January 7, 2010
DETROIT As General Motors began assembling batteries for the coming Chevrolet Volt on Thursday, a new study cast doubt on the likelihood that electric cars will be widely popular in the near future.
The study, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, said battery costs were not expected to fall as much as automakers have projected, making electric vehicles too expensive for most consumers even 10 years from now.

The firm predicted that electric cars would account for just 6 percent of the global market in 2020, or about three million of an estimated 54.5 million vehicles sold over all.

The findings contrast with the publicity that G.M., Ford Motor, Nissan and other manufacturers have been building for coming battery-powered models. On Thursday, G.M.s chairman and chief executive, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., called electric cars like the Volt, which has a small range-extending gasoline engine, the way of the future and said such technology will quickly become a very big part of General Motors.

The Volt, Mr. Whitacre said, is a sign of good things to come, not only for this company but for the U.S. auto industry and the car-buying public.

Mr. Whitacre was speaking at a ceremony to note the production of G.M.s first 400-pound battery pack at a new plant outside Detroit. The event took place exactly three years after G.M. introduced the Volt then a sporty concept car theoretically powered by technology that company officials acknowledged did not exist yet to great fanfare at the 2007 Detroit auto show.

The Volt is scheduled to go on sale by November.

Electric vehicles will be a large part of this years Detroit show, which begins Monday with two days of media previews. The energy secretary, Steven Chu, who joined Mr. Whitacre at the event on Thursday, said the vehicles were critical to helping Detroits automakers become successful again.

We urgently need to change how we power our cars and trucks, Mr. Chu said. America has fallen behind in the race to build cars of the future.

The Boston Consulting Group study, however, forecasts that most gasoline-powered cars will remain most popular for many years. It forecasts that they will represent 62 percent of sales in the United States and 58 percent of sales worldwide in 2020.

The main factor, the study says, is price. It predicts that the cost of a battery pack about the size of the Volts will fall by $10,000, or 64 percent, from 2009 to 2020. But even then it would take about 15 years for the cost of owning an electric vehicle to equal that of a gas-powered car.

Most consumers would buy an electric vehicle only if they could break even on ownership costs within three years, said Xavier Mosquet, who leads the consulting firms automotive practice in Detroit. He said a three-year time frame would require significant government incentives or a drastic change in one or more factors, like oil prices of about $375 a barrel, more than quadruple todays price.

Mr. Mosquet said about 9 percent of Americans surveyed said they would buy an electric car regardless of price.

A small fraction will buy one either because they think it is fun or it is the right thing to do, he told reporters after a speech to the Automotive Press Association. If you want to go beyond a niche market, you need to make it financially attractive.

But G.M. and government officials celebrating the start of battery production on Thursday said they were confident that the automaker, after many years of trailing its competition and making poor decisions, would lead the industry forward.

Were going to show those foreigners how you make cars, and were going to have success, Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, said.

dear oh dear oh dear .... how are the mighty fallen .... was one of my faves too many moons ago

Battery orders from TAN & SEV US

Valence have received orders from both sides of the pond for batteries to power the Smith Newton and Eddison vehicles.

Don't get too despondent cynic, Tanfield/Smith are still in business!

A bit of action, nothing announced by TAN yet though.

Proton Power Systems sign MoU with SEV

I think the news is good for TAN. and I need some good news at the moment.

Let us hope it is reflected in the price.

These have a had a bit of a run up of late - I can't find any news - anyone?

There is a lot going on at the moment skinny. Just to give you a "taster", take a look at these:-

http://www.sev-us.com/

http://bdaily.info/news/business/03-03-2010/france-plugs-into-tanfield/?utm_source=bdaily-bulletin&utm_medium=email&utm_content=stories&utm_campaign=bulletin-click-throughs

http://www.transportengineer.org.uk/article/22854/Bunzls-green-distribution-drive-leads-to-Smith-electric-truck-hire.aspx

Thanks Kim.

Still a long way to go yet though skinny!

a lot going on but funnily enough it never seems to affect the price positively.

I think that will be the way it is with TAN until we see a really positive RNS quoting large volume sales either in the UK or other parts of the world, the US in particular. That could be some time away but there is no denying the slow increase in momentum is being maintained.