Think Planning US Factory; Initial Production in 2010

12 March 2009

Norway-based electric car maker Think plans to open a new manufacturing plant and technical center in the United States. The company is currently in discussions with eight states, including Michigan, hoping to host the facility. US production is expected to start in 2010, with the first-year volume of 2,500 units being available to pilot and demonstration fleet projects. Plans ultimately call for up to 900 employees and a capacity of 60,000 electric vehicles per year.

The US is quickly overtaking Europe as an attractive market for EVs and is an ideal location to engineer and build EVs. We see ourselves playing a small but potentially growing role in re-inventing the US auto industry by bringing back new manufacturing jobs to the US to replace internal combustion engine vehicles that are expensive to operate and maintain with clean, efficient electric vehicles.

—Richard Canny, Think CEO

Think’s subsidiary, Think North America, plans to apply for low-interest loans from the US Department of Energy’s $25-billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVMIP) program. Think is also collaborating closely with battery makers Ener1, Inc. and A123Systems (which are also seeking ATVMIP funding), and which are already under contract to supply compact, high-powered lithium-ion power systems for the TH!NK city. The two companies are part of a growing US supply chain serving the electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid car markets.

The US plant will build the TH!NK city, a compact electric vehicle that can travel up to 112 miles on a single charge. The car is designed, engineered and produced to have the lowest possible carbon footprint with recyclable plastic body panels and a fully recyclable interior.

Think launched the TH!NK city in 2008. Currently, the company operates production facilities in Aurskog, Norway with a plant capacity of 5,000 units per shift (max. 16,000 units/year).