Smith Electric Vehicles to Build Chicago Plant

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On Thursday, the City of Chicago announced that electric delivery truck maker Smith Electric Vehicles has agreed to open a new factory, "creating hundreds of direct and indirect jobs and boosting the already rapidly growing battery and electric vehicle sector in the City."

Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., Smith maintains a manufacturing facility in New York City. Chicago will therefore be the company's third major U.S. location. The City won Smith's business, in part, by offering certain "development incentives" to the company, but the package has not yet been finalized. Smith said in a statement that it was also attracted by Chicago's "innovative voucher system," which subsidizes companies that purchase electric vehicles in order to convert their fleets away from diesel.

Smith, which in September canceled its plans to conduct a U.S. IPO, is a widely-known manufacturer of all-electric trucks for the delivery fleets at companies such as DHL, FedEx (NYSE: FDX ) , Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) , and PepsiCo's (NYSE: PEP ) Frito-Lay. It also provides electric trucks to the U.S. military.

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