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Backed by U.S. venture capital, Norwegian company Think is betting its Ox concept vehicle can prove the electric car's time has finally arrived. (http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2008/id20080616_955452.htm)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Think_city.jpgMatt Vella - Business Week - June 16, 2008

Clean, quiet, and relatively profitable to produce, electric vehicles have had a rough start in the U.S.: Five years after General Motors (GM) nixed its innovative EV1 electric car program, just a handful of automakers have committed to making and selling electric vehicles on a mass scale any time soon.

Enter Think Global, a Norwegian upstart plotting a U.S. invasion via pint-size, affordable electric cars. Think has been selling gas-free, Lilliputian city cars in Europe and will start peddling them to fuel-crunched Americans in 2009. The company's newly formed North American division has high hopes for Think's existing models—and even higher ones for the upcoming Th!nk Ox, a concept unveiled at the Geneva International Motor Show earlier this year.

An electrified people's car for the 21st century, the Ox is a preview of Think's next-generation production vehicle, due out in 2011. Roughly the size of a Toyota (TM) Prius, the Ox can travel between 125 and 155 miles before needing a recharge, and zips from zero to 60 miles per hour in about 8.5 seconds. Its lithium-ion batteries can be charged to 80% capacity in less than an hour, and slender solar panels integrated into the roof power the onboard electronics. Inside, the hatchback includes a bevy of high-tech gizmos such as GPS navigation, a mobile Internet connection, and a key fob that lets drivers customize the car's all-digital dashboard. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the company's current vehicles cost less than $25,000...http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2008/id20080616_955452.htm

"To date, most electric cars available in the U.S.—small, unsafe, and underpowered—have been intended strictly for the earliest early adopters and the most faithful green believers."

It doesn't take a leap of imagination to understand what perspective the author is coming from. All three of these characteristics- small, unsafe and underpowered- are common perspectives from the old paradigm of bigger is always better, bigger is safer, and bigger cars need much more powerful engines. With gas and energy prices going up, we need progressive, forward thinking that encourages a new look at all possible alternatives, not just more of the same. Electric vehicles do not have to be everything normal internal combustion engine vehicles are in order to be legitimate. More people may be likely to adopt them with less social marketing but that doesn't mean that they are necessarily better.

The only concern listed that is worthy of any mention is unsafe. Who cares re: small and underpowered? I have read reviews of the Corolla that say it is underpowered (same might be said from any of a dozen compacts and subcompacts). Who needs all this power? And really how many SUVs do you see occupied by a single individual going to a grocery store?
The safe is often tied with the above, like somehow bigger is safer. We know that this isn't true. And if we were able to kick the habit of large SUVs, the road would be safer for everybody else.

If everyone did at least ecodriving, no one would miss any power and everyone would be safer all the way around.


--des

My feelings are get the dang car out there and make adjustment as we go along, just mass produce an electric car, NOW.

Still, the American market for electric vehicles "is virtually nonexistent," says John O'Dell, a senior editor specializing in green vehicles for car-buying site Edmunds.com.

What, are you kiddin me! There were more people lined up to lease the GM EV-1 than there were cars avaialble. This was with the lousy advertising GM was using too. Imagine how much demand could have been if they had advertised it the way they did their SUVs.

The beauty of this is that they have been making cars for a number of years - this isn't some flash in the pan start up.

Even for the most hardened FSP - these are perfect commuters or station cars.


By 2012 - 40MPG will be the minimum people expect.

Build it. Blue. Let me know where to pick it up.

The sooner the better! We need them in any color, even blue will do. H

Every time a Microcar is offered for sale in the U.S, the first panicked cry is "It's unsafe!"
If you get hit by,say, a Toyota Camry, the most common car in the U.S, would you rather be in a SmartCar, or on a Harley?
I'm a lifelong cycle rider, and I'd pick the SmartCar.
Vehicles are only unsafe if you are in a crash! Instead of requiring all vehicles to be indestructible, teach people to drive!

Go to the referenced article:
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2008/id20080616_955452.htm
and post appropriate comments there, assuming you're so inclined.

Waiting for the EVs to arrive gives me the same feeling watching the hours & days after Katrina and waiting for the Feds to arrive. Where.......the.......hell........are........they?

I understand the reasons why, and yet it's still mind boggling that I can't purchase an electric car today from a major.

What, are you kiddin me! There were more people lined up to lease the GM EV-1 than there were cars avaialble. This was with the lousy advertising GM was using too. Imagine how much demand could have been if they had advertised it the way they did their SUVs.


Or rather "anti-advertising". My understanding from "Who Killed the Electric Car?" was that in many cases they would try to talk people out of them. Granted no one could actually BUY one, they had this foolish little lease idea. Can you imagine how ahead of the game they would be by now, if they had kept it up, supported it, and not crushed it?

--des

For 25G$, I'd buy one without hesitation. Especially as the second car used to run errands around town and commute to work.

My only concern (being in Canada) is, how would it handle in snow and ice and does it come with a heater? :D

Other than that, where and when can I get one?
Daniel

The name Th!nk Ox is great! Distinctive and will get attention, which is what is needed, and sticks in one's mind. Ox suggests rugged durability.

Only problem is that "Th!nk" will constantly morph into "Think".

What, are you kiddin me! There were more people lined up to lease the GM EV-1 than there were cars avaialble. This was with the lousy advertising GM was using too. Imagine how much demand could have been if they had advertised it the way they did their SUVs.


Who the heck is in charge of buying advertising?

I'm still seeing Gas Hog vehicle ads on TV, so I'm pretty much convinced that US car companies are totally brain dead.

Or, maybe the car companies signed up for all these dumb ads last year and can't get out of their contract??

Or, maybe these ads are targeting only the very rich?

To me, 0 to 60 in 8.5 seconds is not "underpowered". I live 17 miles from the office and I never get up to 60 (I stay in the slow lanes and top out at 55).

I'll take one.

Greg

Who the heck is in charge of buying advertising?

I'm still seeing Gas Hog vehicle ads on TV, so I'm pretty much convinced that US car companies are totally brain dead.

Or, maybe the car companies signed up for all these dumb ads last year and can't get out of their contract??

Or, maybe these ads are targeting only the very rich?

They don't need to spend alot of money on cars that will sell themselves, they need to spend money trying to convince people that they need to help them reduce their massive inventories of vehicles that nobody wants anymore (i.e. gas guzzlers). It makes perfect sense. ;)

They don't need to spend alot of money on cars that will sell themselves, they need to spend money trying to convince people that they need to help them reduce their massive inventories of cars that nobody wants anymore (i.e. gas guzzlers). It makes perfect sense. ;)

I was always under the impression that no dealers in Mass carried Hybrid cars.
Maybe it was because they never advertised them..?.. (Still don't as far as I can tell).

Years ago, I do recall being shocked to see a whole fleet of Honda Insights sitting way in the back of the local dealers storage lot.
(At that time, I had only seen one on the road).
They were all very dirty, like they had been sitting there for years. Some had half-flat tires.
I had no clue that my dealer even sold such a car.. I tried to get my kid to buy one, but she said they were too ugly.
Wow! That was a major missed opportunity!

Our local Toyota dealers aren't pushing Hybrids in their TV or newspaper (local) ads.
I'll bet that a lot of people look at those ads and wonder why those dealers don't sell
any Hybrids around Boston.?.

Well, since I've become more aware of them, I see a LOT of Hybrids on the streets around here.
I don't think they are all from out-of-state dealers LOL!