The truck designed in Europe but manufactured in Kansas City, is the first of six that Frito-Lay will be taking into its Canadian fleet over the next few months.

The zero-emission Smith is the largest plug-in-battery electric truck in the world, and Frito-Lay’s version has a GVW of about 16,000 lb.; a top speed of about 80 km/h (plenty for moving potato chips around the GTA); and a range of about 160 km on a single charge.

It’s silent, except for the a/c, radio and turn-signal indicators; and there’s no transmission. It’s a lot like driving a big golf cart.

While expensive up-front, this truck will use about $400 worth of electricity in a year; compared to $10,000 worth of fuel.

Driver McAughey says the truck’s an attention magnet and for him, that’s a bonus because all of Frito-Lay’s drivers are commissioned sales reps and driving the unusual truck makes a great conversation starter.

The main motor is a 120-KW induction electric motor; the air brakes are regenerative so when you take your foot off the accelerator, the deceleration feels as if you’ve applied an engine brake but there’s no noise plus the braking power is being used to recharge the engine.

You really don’t have to hit the brakes much to slow down during regular city driving.

(During a test-spin this week, as our reporter drove the truck around the streets near Frito-Lay’s head office, the Area Fleet Manager Imre Zalan rode shotgun and commented that the savings on brake pads alone will be huge.)

For more on the truck itself, check out www.smithelectric.com/pdf/sev-us_newton.pdf.

Frito-Lay’s Sustainability Leader Helmi Ansari says the truck will use about $400 worth of electricity in a year; compared with the average $10,000 worth of gas that most of their delivery trucks consume.

Plus, Ansari says, the electricity that Frito-Lay purchases to power the truck is green; i.e., it’s purchased from Direct Energy but it’s solar or wind powered.

(For the record, the Sun Chips that McAughey delivers in it come in compostable bags.)

Shortly before Frito-Lay took delivery of the truck, Zalan visited the Smith factory in Missouri; the same factory Barack Obama dropped in on to check out how the electric-truck company was using the American Department of Energy’s $32-million grant.

Zalan estimates a truck like the Smith that is at work in Mississauga costs between $150,000 and $200,000. The batteries alone are worth about $35,000.

He also estimates that research and technology will drive those prices down in the near future.

Offered Zalan “Who would have believed even a year and a half ago, that this would be possible?”