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Think's zippy little Web-enabled, carbon-free electric driving machine could help reverse 100 years of automotive history. (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/08/01/100138830/index.htm?postversion=2007073006)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Th_nk_City.jpgTodd Woody - Business 2.0 - July 30, 2007

The Think - Mr. Willums, CEO of Think is a car collector whose stable includes a '61 Austin Healey. "I use the Think every day. The others stay in the garage."

Three pinstriped London investors stand outside an electric car factory in the green fields of the Norwegian countryside, waiting their turns to test-drive a stylish two-seater called the Think City.

But first, Think CEO Jan-Olaf Willums takes the wheel. While the moneymen fiddle with their BlackBerrys, Willums, looking slightly rumpled like the academic he once was, turns the ignition, and the stub-nosed coupe silently rolls toward an open stretch of pavement. Suddenly he punches the pedal, and the car takes off like a shot, the AC motor instantaneously transferring power to the wheels. The only sound is the squealing of tires as Willums throws the little car into a tight turn and barrels back toward his startled guests.

"That looks fun," Frode Aschim of Range Capital Partners says with a grin. Minutes later, he slides into the driver's seat and speeds away.

Did someone kill the electric car? You wouldn't know it on this bright May morning in Scandinavia, where the idea of a mass-produced battery-powered vehicle is being resurrected and actual cars are scheduled to begin rolling off the production line by year's end … http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/08/01/100138830/index.htm?postversion=2007073006

The Th!nk isn't dead. It's pining for the fjords. :D

Two things caught my eye.


Start the car up, and the only sound is the annoying hum of its vacuum-pump-powered hydraulic brakes (to be replaced on the production version). Put the pedal to the metal and the City zooms off. It's no Tesla Roadster -- the current battery is speed-limited to 62 miles an hour. But it is nimble and quick and goes about 112 miles on a single charge. And it hits the red line on the fun quotient.


That's pretty good if you ask me. The all-in price of $34,000 keeps my checkbook safely in the drawer but the battery leasing options ("mobility fee") they talk about might make it feasible for many of us. The $15-17k price sans-battery isn't so bad when you consider that electric drivetrains are likely to be much more robust than our complex ICE-based systems. And very few of us wouldn't be able to make a RT commute with one of these.


PG&E plans to buy thousands of plug-in hybrid and electric car batteries that have outlived their usefulness for transportation but still retain capacity. The utility will install them in the basements of office towers and at electrical substations to store green energy produced by wind farms and solar arrays.


That's one of the best recycling programs I've heard of. Take the used component and just plug it into a different socket that doesn't require it to be running at full capacity.

ROFL......this thread caught my eye because my horse is a fjord, and a lot of them are driven. i have a t-shirt with that very question on it :)

fjord driving:

http://livinginoz.smugmug.com/photos/54029365-L.jpg

I think the cost is still going to be out of range for us ($12-15k is about the most I could justify for a commute-only car) but this is extremely promising. Knowing it will have to pass much stricter safety standards than NEVs (which I could buy today for $12-15k) is a an absolute must for me. I know they will sell well here.

This really give me hope for the future with regard to the evolution of our entire energy infrastructure. The Stirling engine sounds amazing. Too bad they didn't include much information about it in the article. My round trip commute is 34 miles, so this would suit my purposed just fine. In the meantime, sign me up in advance!

Two things caught my eye.



That's pretty good if you ask me. The all-in price of $34,000 keeps my checkbook safely in the drawer but the battery leasing options ("mobility fee") they talk about might make it feasible for many of us. The $15-17k price sans-battery isn't so bad when you consider that electric drivetrains are likely to be much more robust than our complex ICE-based systems. And very few of us wouldn't be able to make a RT commute with one of these.



That's one of the best recycling programs I've heard of. Take the used component and just plug it into a different socket that doesn't require it to be running at full capacity.

Tim, I agree -- this is very attractive for a commuter car. Leasing the battery also opens the door to improved battery tech as time goes on for the same cost.

About the recycling, that's the idea I've been pushing for years as a solution to "spent" nuclear fuel from powerplants. It may not be reactive enough to provide the output required by a powerplant, but you can still use it to generate less power for smaller applications. Instead of burying the still dangerous material, just keep moving it down to lower power applications until it really is spent and pretty much harmless to the environment. Powerplant --> company campus power --> single office building --> residential home --> minimum residential backup generator --> battery charger --> driveway warmer during winter? Everybody is so scared of the stuff they don't even try the reasonable route...