The story
2002
eMercury project commenced within London Taxis International (a subsidiary of Manganese Bronze Holdings). The project was led by Jevon Thorpe, designer of the TX1London 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 utilising a nickel metal hydride battery and one utilising a high energy molten salt battery mounted in a removable cassette between the chassis rails.
Manganese Bronze Holdings announces its decision to focus on its taxi business. The eMercury project bought by Jamie Borwick, 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, commences development of production vehicles
2006
Announces partnerships with Lex Logistics for customer service, GE Commercial Finance for vehicle finance and battery rental and Axeon Power for battery cassette assemblies containing Zebra battery technology.
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Unveils next generation of production intent vehicles at SMMT 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 of 300 Newton metres is delivered from rest, resulting in lively acceleration. Zebra batteries are used.
2007
Coventry production facility officially opened by David Cameron MP.
Announcement of that the first vehicles built will be delivered to Tesco for home grocery deliveries.
Other deliveries included Center Parcs at their Elveden Forest park for servicing use, Accord, Amey, Speedy Hire, Hildon Water, London Borough of Islington 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 has ordered Modec electric vans for its UK and German fleets. Energy costs play a huge part in the potential profitability of package delivery companies like UPS, DHL and FedEx.
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 Navistar International for North and South America. The Joint venture is named Navistar-Modec EV Alliance.
2010
Navistar began deliveries of its eStar electric van manufactured in Wakarusa, Indiana, 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.
From Wikipedia’s article on Modec, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4