Tanfield Group TAN.L

Well done Tanfield up 10p at time or writing (2.58pm) based on news that they have won orders from Sainsbury's, TNT, CEVA Logistics and Scottish & Southern Energy. They are definitely making inroads (pun intended) to assisting with the cleaner cities of the future.

RNS Number:3001V Tanfield Group PLC 23 April 2007
23 April 2007

The Tanfield Group Pl ("Tanfield" or "the Group")

LAUNCH OF EDISON ELECTRIC ZERO EMISSION VAN & NEW CONTRACT WINS

Tanfield, the leading manufacturer of zero emission electric vehicles and aerial work platforms, is pleased to announce the successful launch of its Edison zero emission electric van. Tanfield has today also secured its first contracts for initial orders of Edison with Sainbury's, TNT, CEVA Logistics and Scottish & Southern Energy.

J Sainsbury Plc ("Sainsbury's"), a leading UK retailer, has ordered an initial eight Edison electric vans for its Sainsbury's Online home shopping delivery fleet. Sainsbury's aims to switch 20% of its urban delivery fleet to electric vehicles by September 2008 and its entire urban home shopping fleet by 2010.

The order follows a year-long trial by Sainsbury's of the Faraday zero emission electric vehicle, a larger van based on a different chassis and also produced by Tanfield's trading division, Smith Electric Vehicles. Sainsbury's Online deployed the Faraday in home shopping delivery applications in Central London.

The Edison electric van utilises a Ford Transit Body shell, housing Tanfield's higher function electric vehicle technology. It has a restricted top speed of 50mph and a range of up to 150 miles on one battery charge. Tanfield has signed a supply agreement with Ford that will see Smith Electric Vehicles convert an initial 100 Ford Transit Body shells to battery-powered Edison vans.

Tanfield has received further confirmed orders for Edison from parcel and logistics companies TNT Express and CEVA Logistics (formerly TNT Logistics), who have both already deployed Tanfield's Newton 7.5t electric vehicle.

Scottish & Southern Energy, one of the UK's largest energy companies, has also ordered the Edison for use in its fleet of 6,000 commercial vehicles.

Simon Skeet, Operations Manager for Sainsbury's Online, said:
"Thorough testing during the trial has given us a unique insight into the vehicle's capabilities and has demonstrated that we can potentially take hundreds of conventional vans out of our urban delivery fleet.
Our fleet will start small but the long term plans mean that by 2010, all our delivery vans operating in high areas of 'delivery density', such as towns and cities, will be battery powered. We look forward to working closely with Smith Electric Vehicles with a view to fulfilling this requirement."

Darren Kell, Chief Executive of The Tanfield Group Plc, said:
"Edison's urban performance capabilities have exceeded our own expectations and those of our customers.
This initial order and further commitment by Sainsbury's demonstrates the level of belief and confidence held by major fleet operators in our zero emission vehicles.

The Ford Transit is the most popular and widely used van in its category, further enhancing driver acceptability of our vehicles. Coupled with Edison's unique performance capabilities, we are confident that the vehicle will generate further volume orders."

Smith Electric Vehicles will officially unveil Edison at the Commercial Vehicle Show, Europe's largest exhibition of commercial vehicles. The CV Show takes place in Birmingham NEC from Tuesday 24th April to Thursday 26th April, 2007.