Smith Electric Vehicles of Britain is working with Ford Motor Company to bring us a pair of electric trucks be based on Ford's Transit Connect and the F-650 commercial vehicle and built in America.

The smaller of the two trucks, the Ampere, takes the long-wheelbase Transit Connect and replaces the internal combustion engine with a 50-kilowatt electric motor and a bank of lithium-ion iron phosphate batteries developed specifically for the vehicle. Th batteries are covered by a 5-year/1000-cycle warranty.

Smith claims the Ampere is good for 100 miles per charge, will reach 70 mph and can carry close to 1,800 pounds of cargo. It's aimed at commercial users in urban areas — couriers and utilities workers, for instance — although it's not hard to imagine there will be consumer interest in the vehicle.

So does it get here?*

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The Ampere is slated to debut next year, alongside Ford's regular Transit Connect van.

Smith is set to roll out the larger Faraday II, based on Ford's mighty F-650, later this year. Expect it to employ a 120-kilowatt motor from Enova in place of the usual 6.7- or 7.2-liter diesel engine and either lithium-ion iron phosphate or sodium nickel chloride batteries. Either way, look for a top speed of 50 mph and a range of 150 miles.

The Ampere and Faraday II join Smith's Ford-based Newton EV, currently the world's largest road-going EV, in the American market. Based in the English county of Tyne and Wear, Smith has a small facility in Fresno, California, but in December, the company announced that it will open a much larger U.S. factory in 2010 with a production capacity of 10,000 vehicles per year.

Pictures courtesy Smith Electric Vehicles.