DuraMag, a brand of The Shyft Group’s Specialty Vehicles business unit, announced it will engineer, manufacture, and install vocational body upfits for ev Transportation Services’ (evTS) FireFly vehicles, making the all-electric lightweight utility vehicle well suited to a variety of essential service and electro-mobility (e-mobility) functions. DuraMag, a Northeast-based all-aluminum truck body manufacturer, will build bodies for the FireFly electric vehicles. DuraMag will build food and parcel delivery vans, landscape, dump, and flatbed utility bodies at Shyft’s facility in Waterville, Maine.
“At Shyft, we are committed to the future of transportation and to growing our capabilities in response to market demands,” says Daryl Adams, president and CEO of The Shyft Group. “End markets are starting to prioritize and even insist on electric vehicles. We continue to focus on those trends and expand our offerings within EV manufacturing and assembly to help ensure we meet broad customer demand.”
FIREFLY ESV
The FireFly ESV is a zero-emission utility vehicle specifically designed for the essential services transportation and urban e-mobility markets. End user applications include parking management as well as security and perimeter patrol property management and first response services. Applications also include sanitation and last mile on-demand urban delivery of parcels and food.
David Solomont, chairman and CEO of evTS, says the FireFly is the brand’s most advanced model yet. Additionally, he says evTS designed the vehicle to fill the need in the expanding urban, e-mobility, and essential services markets. Solomont says evTS needed the help of a body builder that was familiar with EV technologies and weight distribution requirements. But the company also needed a body builder that could guarantee a high-quality, durable brand with fast speed to market. “DuraMag has delivered that and more,” Solomont says.
Steve Guillaume, president of Shyft Specialty Vehicles, further commented, “The Shyft Group’s quality system, ingrained lean manufacturing processes, and flexible manufacturing facilities across our expanding footprint provide customers with efficient, high-quality service body designs that can easily scale, no matter the order size. For DuraMag customers like evTS, this unique combination of experience and proficiencies helps ensure the fastest speed to market for some of the most lightweight and long-lasting aluminum bodies in the industry.”
The Shyft Group purchased F3 MFG Inc. in October 2020, which included the DuraMag and Magnum brands in its portfolio. The acquisition expanded Shyft’s body capabilities into the aluminum market. It also provided customers with increased options in the truck market.
Find out more, visit www.theshyftgroup.com, www.duramagbodies.com , and www.magnumtruckracks.com
