Think Partners with Kleiner Perkins and RockPort Capital to Bring TH!NK EV to North America
21 April 2008
The Norwegian electric car producer Think has established TH!NK North America in partnership with the leading clean-tech investors RockPort Capital Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers.
The TH!NK city EV reaches a top speed of 100 kph (62 mph) per hour and can drive up to 180 km (112 miles) on a single charge. TH!NK city meets all European and US federal motor vehicle safety requirements.
At the Geneva Motorshow earlier this year, Think announced a strategic partnership with energy giant General Electric, also an investor in Think. (Earlier post.) At the show, Think unveiled its future car, the TH!NK Ox, a 4/5-seater fully-electric vehicle which is slated to begin production in 2010/11. Think has also established partnerships in the US with battery suppliers A123Systems and EnerDel.
The TH!NK city is currently produced in Norway and international sales are scheduled to begin in Scandinavia, with Switzerland and France also being the initial focus areas. Sales, other than initial trial and demonstration projects, will begin in the North American market in 2009. Vicki Northrup, an electric car veteran, has been retained by TH!NK North America as Operations Manager and will initially be based out of TH!NK North America’s Menlo Park office.
WOW! This is great news!
Posted by: | 21 April 2008 at 09:13 AM
A good start for Th!nk's North American group. However, they have not yet started production and sales in Europe. Achieving that will be their first real hurdle.
Posted by: Ron Fischer | 21 April 2008 at 10:01 AM
According to this article they already have started production and sales in Europe.
http://greenwombat.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2007/12/10/a-honda-civic-for-the-age-of-global-warming/
I really hope they do start sales in North America soon. We need some alternatives to Exxon and the rest.
Posted by: zevutah | 21 April 2008 at 11:59 AM
This is like a freaking wet dream!!
Actually it is, still has not come true yet.
Posted by: JJSpawn | 21 April 2008 at 12:11 PM
Think are currently build the first 600 which according to the
sales team are all sold in Norway , however the problem is that
when exported out of norway or indeed denmark , the car looks
very expensive at over 20000 euros , which here in europe will
not include the battery which has to be rented at further cost !
take the car to America and with the current exchange rate its
going to cost over 30000 dollars , I really don´t see who will
pay that sort of money for a small two seater .
Posted by: ANDRICHROSE | 21 April 2008 at 02:28 PM
At this exchange rate it might be worth it to build a factory in the United States.
Posted by: Cervus | 21 April 2008 at 03:05 PM
The first 600 cars are a trial production run to restart their facility. Next production run schedule and numbers are not mentioned. How they're going to build serious volume is an unanswered, tough question.
They're also using the "Zebra" Sodium Nickel Chloride battery at this point (reliable, cost-effective, but hot), which is a step up from the liquid cooled NiCads on the City I leased, but not Lithium Ion yet.
Posted by: Ron Fischer | 21 April 2008 at 03:55 PM
the market will be owned by the Chinese if they charge $30k for that car..
Posted by: | 21 April 2008 at 06:58 PM
They could combine EVs with the zip car idea. Put EVs in city areas like train stations and people run their card through a door mounted reader and use the car and leave it in a designated lot.
Some people try cars by renting them for the weekend. If they like them, they might consider buying one. The same can work for this. Try one out and you might be more interested in the concept. Amazing what a bit of buzz marketing can do.
Posted by: sjc | 21 April 2008 at 07:12 PM