Modec wins Post Enterprise Award for March
Mar 30 2009 by John Cranage, Birmingham Post
The winner of this month’s Birmingham Post Enterprise Award is bucking the automotive industry recession by drawing up plans to expand production.
Modec, the Coventry-based electric van manufacturer, hopes to be able to start a second production shift early next year.
Production volumes are currently small, but with parcels companies FedEx and UPS together with Tesco among its customers, the Binley company believes it can begin ramping up production of its battery-powered delivery vans to about 2,500 units a year.
Modec has recently been awarded the European Union’s N2 classification governing commercial vehicles which allows it to sell its products in every EU member state and is in the process of seeking similar federal certification in the US.
“This is a major achievement for us,” said Modec operations director Chris Wolfe, a former Volkswagen Group executive.
Modec is the world’s first manufacturer of purpose-built, battery-powered, zero emission vans, about 150 of which have been built since production began in 2007.
Its vans, which are designed for urban deliveries, have a range of 100 miles, a top speed of 50 miles an hour and a payload of two tonnes. Running costs work out at 15p a mile. The battery takes eight hours to recharge.
Modec says its engines have only three moving parts, yielding low maintenance costs,
It produces three variants, a box van, a chassis cab and a drop-side unit.
When designing the vehicle, the company began with key components such as the battery and built the chassis and body around them rather than converting existing petrol or diesel-powered vans.
Chairman Lord (Jamie) Borwick, who founded Modec four years ago after previously heading Coventry taxi-maker Manganese Bronze, said recently that the company was benefiting from other countries’ promotions of low carbon-emitting vehicles and that the bulk of the Binley plant’s output is exported.
The company has dealerships in place in Europe and the US but sells few vehicles in the UK. Lord Borwick said that out of the last 100 vehicles in produced only 16 were for delivery in the UK and these were to overseas-based customers.
After receiving the Post Enterprise Award at Nailcote Hall, Berkswell, yesterday, he said the crisis afflicting the global automotive industry presented opportunities as well as threats, although he believes that some major vehicle producers will not survive.
But looking ahead five years, Lord Borwick said he expects Modec to be producing electric vans on three continents, running three shifts in Coventry and producing 50,000 vehicles a year.
“We will also be busy being confidential about our next product,” he added.
The main sponsors of the Birmingham Post Enterprise Awards are Intercity Mobile Communications and Churchill Vintners in association with Laurent Perrier. Fly be and Aston Business School provide further support and Aston Villa Football Club provided a corporate package. Advantage West Midlands sponsors the annual awards luncheon.
