Modec was an

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

manufacturer in Coventry, in the United Kingdom, specialising in

Commercial vehicle A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers. The United States defines a "commercial motor vehicle" as any self-propelled or towed vehicle used on a public highway in interstate commerce to ...

s in the N2 category. It unveiled its first model in April 2006 and announced its intention to commence series production in March 2007, with the first production vehicles destined for

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

. Following a long-term decline in sales, it entered administration in March 2011, with all remaining assets and intellectual property sold to

Navistar International Navistar, Inc is an American holding company created in 1986 as the successor to International Harvester. Navistar operates as the owner of International-branded trucks and diesel engines. The company also produces buses under the IC Bus br ...

History

; 2002 : eMercury project commenced within

London Taxis International The London Taxi Company was a taxi design and manufacturing company based in Coventry, England. It formerly traded as London Taxis International and Carbodies. It operated a coachbuilding business on Holyhead Road, Coventry. After half a c ...

(a subsidiary of

Manganese Bronze Holdings Manganese Bronze Holdings plc (MBH) was the holding company of LTI Limited. The firm's sole business in its final years as a company was London black taxicab manufacturing through the LTI subsidiary. The Manganese Bronze and Brass Co was fou ...

). The project was led by Jevon Thorpe, designer of the

TX1 The LTI TX1 is a Hackney carriage (London "Black cab") introduced by London Taxis International in 1997 and designed to replace the ageing Austin FX4. It was designed by British product designer Kenneth Grange. Most are powered by a diesel engi ...

London Taxi. Some development funding received from the Energy Savings Trust (EST), part of the Department of Trade and Industry. ; 2004: Three eMercury prototypes demonstrated - one conventional lead-acid battery powered, one

hybrid vehicle A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as submarines that use diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged. Other means to store energy include pressurized fluid in hydraulic hybrids. The basic princip ...

utilising a

nickel metal hydride battery Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to r ...

and one utilising a high energy

molten salt battery Molten-salt batteries are a class of battery that uses molten salts as an electrolyte and offers both a high energy density and a high power density. Traditional non-rechargeable thermal batteries can be stored in their solid state at room temper ...

mounted in a removable cassette between the

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

rails. :

announces its decision to focus on its taxi business. The eMercury project bought by

Jamie Borwick Geoffrey Robert James Borwick, 5th Baron Borwick (born 7 March 1955) is a British businessman, hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords. Early life Jamie Borwick was born on 7 March 1955. He was educated at Sandroyd School and Eton Colle ...

, former CEO & Chairman of Manganese Bronze, who creates Modec Limited as part of Borwick Group. : Splits with drivetrain supplier Azure Dynamics, in favour of

Zytek Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981. In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, b ...

, commences development of production vehicles ; 2006 : Announces partnerships with Lex Logistics for customer service,

GE Commercial Finance GE Commercial Finance was a unit of GE Capital, (one of five major operating divisions of General Electric). Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, United States, it plays a role in over 35 countries and had assets of over US$335 billion at year e ...

for vehicle finance and battery rental and

Axeon Power List See also *Electric vehicle battery An electric vehicle battery (EVB, also known as a traction battery) is a rechargeable battery used to power the electric motors of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) ...

for battery cassette assemblies containing

Zebra battery Molten-salt batteries are a class of battery that uses molten salts as an electrolyte and offers both a high energy density and a high power density. Traditional non-rechargeable thermal batteries can be stored in their solid state at room temper ...

technology. : Unveils next generation of production intent vehicles at

SMMT The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is the trade association for the United Kingdom motor industry. Its role is to "promote the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad." History SMMT was founded by Frede ...

Commercial Vehicle Show. Fitted with an 85 kWh battery pack, they have a 2-2.5 tonne payload, a governed top speed of 50 mph and a range in excess of 100 miles on a typical urban duty cycle. Maximum

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...

of 300

Newton metre The newton-metre (also newton metre or newton meter; symbol N⋅m or N m) is the unit of torque (also called ) in the International System of Units (SI). One newton-metre is equal to the torque resulting from a force of one newton applie ...

s is delivered from rest, resulting in lively acceleration. Zebra batteries are used. ; 2007: Coventry production facility officially opened by the Rt Hon

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

MP. : Announcement of that the first vehicles built will be delivered to

for home grocery deliveries. : Other deliveries included

Center Parcs Center Parcs may refer to: * Center Parcs UK and Ireland Center Parcs UK and Ireland (formerly Center Parcs UK) is a short-break holiday company that operates six holiday villages in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, with each cover ...

at their Elveden Forest park for servicing use, Accord, Amey,

Speedy Hire Speedy Hire plc, doing business as Speedy, is a provider of tools and equipment hire, based in the United Kingdom, and also provides services to the construction, infrastructure, industrial markets. The company was founded in Wigan in 1977, and no ...

Hildon Water Hildon is an application framework originally developed for mobile devices (Personal digital assistant, PDAs, mobile phones, etc.) running the Linux operating system as well as the Symbian operating system. The Symbian variant of Hildon was disc ...

London Borough of Islington The London Borough of Islington ( ) is a London borough in Inner London. Whilst the majority of the district is located in north London, the borough also includes a significant area to the south which forms part of central London. Islington has ...

and others. ; 2008: 100th Modec vehicle produced, production at the Coventry plant ramping up according to plan (maximum capacity 5,000 vehicles per annum). : London dealer network expands to six sites; Distributors appointed in the Netherlands and Ireland :

UPS UPS or ups may refer to: Companies and organizations * United Parcel Service, an American shipping company ** The UPS Store, UPS subsidiary ** UPS Airlines, UPS subsidiary * Underground Press Syndicate, later ''Alternative Press Syndicate'' or ...

has ordered Modec

electric van An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more traction motor, electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a Current collector, collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonom ...

s for its UK and German fleets. Energy costs play a huge part in the potential profitability of package delivery companies like UPS,

DHL DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. DHL ...

and

FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

. ; 2009: Modec is the first electric vehicle in the N2 class to attain European Whole Vehicle Type Approval. Modec has entered into a joint venture with

for North and South America. The Joint venture is named Navistar-Modec EV Alliance. ; 2010:

Navistar Navistar, Inc is an American holding company created in 1986 as the successor to International Harvester. Navistar operates as the owner of International-branded trucks and diesel engines. The company also produces buses under the IC Bus br ...

began deliveries of its eStar electric van manufactured in

Wakarusa, Indiana Wakarusa is a town in Harrison and Olive townships in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,758 at the 2010 census. Wakarusa is a small farming and manufacturing community located on Indiana 19 just north of Indiana 119. ...

, under licensed technology from Modec's zero-emissions delivery van.

Closure

Following a long-term decline in sales with a total production of around 400 vehicles, and following the failure of a rescue deal with Navistar, Modec entered administration in March 2011 with debts of over £40m. Navistar subsequently bought the intellectual property rights from administrators Zolfo Cooper. Following the closure of the business and sale of the assets, Liberty Electric Cars hired the entire Modec engineering team and set up a new subsidiary "Liberty E-Tech". After failing in January 2011 to agree a deal with Navistar to buy the brand, in July 2011 Liberty launched a service called "e-Care" to service and maintain Modec vehicles, which presently covers the UK, France, Germany and Dubai.

Technical

The only product of the Modec company was the Modec EV commercial vehicle. It was produced in three versions; a

chassis cab A chassis cab, also called a cab chassis or half truck, is a type of vehicle construction, often found in medium duty truck commercial vehicles. Instead of supplying the customer with a factory pre-assembled flatbed, cargo container, or other eq ...

, box van and a dropside. All three shared a common wheelbase of and a steel ladder frame chassis. The Modec has a kerb weight of 3.3 tonnes and a max gross capacity of 6.05 tonnes. The vehicles use an motor with of torque and an exchangeable lead-acid battery which is charged from an external charger that requires a 32amp 3-phase supply to charge the vehicle for 6 hours, it also has options for Lithium-Ion Phosphate or Sodium Nickel chloride batteries. It has a range and a top speed.Presentation about Modec vehicles form Paul o'Dowd their Nation Sales manager

References

External links

Modec Limited

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090907024601/http://www.realbusiness.co.uk/myfirstmillion/5497866/lord-jamie-borwick.thtml/ Interview with Lord Jamie Borwick at REAL BUSINESS about Modec
Video
of

Robert Llewellyn Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956) is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He plays the mechanoid Kryten in the sci-fi television sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' and formerly presented the engineering gameshow ''Scrapheap Challenge''. He ...

driving the van from

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

as part of an eco-rally {{Automotive industry in the United Kingdom Navistar International Electric trucks Battery electric vehicle manufacturers Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct truck manufacturers of the United Kingdom Coventry motor companies Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2004 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2011