December 23, 2007
Affordable Electric Car - TH!NK City Electric Vehicle returns (again)
We firstly heard about Norwegian car manufacturer Think Global, in 2003 when it was bought by Ford. Company already had an electric car prototype, and Ford invested over 100 million dollars to complete design and started pilot production… Think is small two-seater electric car with a lot of character. But in 2003 it lacked success in marketing and sales, and after California's CARB was lifted, Ford lost interest. Ford backed out of Think, selling it to Swiss based company. Few years later Think went into bankruptcy… During liquidation number of Norwegian investors bought the company…
Well, it was not the first bankruptcy for Norwegian company… So, as Think is reemerging these days, it is only natural to expect so. Appropriately for northerners, Think is still ecological vehicle. Newly announced car - Think City is a pure electric car with reach of 110 miles - twice that of 2003 model. Think City is manufactured northwest of Oslo, Norway. In next months first shipments to Norway, Denmark and Swiss will commence, and by the end of 2008 this electric car will be sold in markets allover Europe and USA. Management of Think is optimistic, as this time they are pretty sure, that they have caught the right timing, and they also emphasize gained new, more appropriate partners, suppliers and most importantly - car parts…
Comments on Affordable Electric Car - TH!NK City Electric Vehicle returns (again) »
I almost choked when I saw $35,000. It's a tiny little runabout. I couldn't possible afford that and wouldn't pay more than $15,000. Someone else will have to be the first adopter who's willing to shell out that much. That's going to be a rich eccentric's toy that he keeps in the garage with his Segway.
35,000 - lease the battries - Won't be long until this company goes bankrupt
The lease cost of the batteries alone makes a 15mpg fossil fuel car more economical to operate on a daily basis! (about $.25/mile for the Think (just lease cost) and about $.25/mile for a 15mpg car's gas at $3.80/gallon.
Until battery manufacturers stop raping the public electric cars will remain a plaything of the rich. Anyone know the profit margin/markup on elec vehicle batteries? I bet it's pretty high.
-X