Azure Dynamics, the maker of the electric version of the Ford Transit Connect, has shut down its European operations and filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada.

The company, whose UK office was in Stevenage, was one of the first to have an electric van approved for the UK plug-in grant. It said that it had made 500 of the electric Transit Connects, of which about 240 had been sold in Europe. Ford UK said that only “a very small number” have been sold in the UK (including this one) and that it was currently trying to work out how to support customers who had purchased an Azure Dynamics vehicle.

We understand that the firm is being closed for restructuring and that those involved hope that it will be resurrected in some way, hopefully including the relationship with Ford.

For more information, visit www.azuredynamics.com.