Haul Photos by Alex Nunez
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By Markkus Rovito ll Smith Electric Vehicles Corp. wanted was a long-term growth strategy that would let the company scale up production of its all-electric, zero-emission medium-duty trucks at the same time that it beefed up its services and value to its growing base of delivery and transit fleet customers. Is that so wrong? Of course no one’s perfect, but Smith, which purchased Smith Electric UK in 2011, found itself in the unfortunate position of being an American clean tech company in the midst of a US presidential election cycle. When Smith announced in September of 2012 that it intended to go public on the NASDAQ exchange, and then just days later withdrew the plan, a miniature firestorm of bad press (bad as in negative and also inexcusably lax) swept over the Kansas City, Missouri-based company.