Electric Cars From Norway Coming to a City Near You
Think Global an electric car company based in Norway, announced last week that it will ship 50,000 of its electric cars to the U.S. The new Think vehicles are plug-in electrics that look like a cross between a Smart Car and a VW Cabriolet. The electric cars are shorter than the Smart car, but taller. In addition to the convertible pictured above, Think Global will release a two seater coup model.
The cars top out around 65 miles-per-hour and get about 110 miles to the charge, which is perfect for getting around the city, but good luck taking them on a roadtrip. The Think will set you back something like $17,000 in the U.S. and, curiously, the batteries will be leased separately for about $100 or $200 each, and may even include wireless and insurance. This is significantly less than other electric cars out there, like the Tesla, which costs more than $100,000, and will hopefully bring the electric car within reach for the average man/woman.
Think Global was launched in Oslo in 1991 and bought by Ford in 1999. Ford stopped leasing the cars in 2003, when California stopped requiring auto makers to produce zero-emissions vehicles. Now, Think is owned by Inspire, and its tech savvy investors hooked up with Google in 2006 to figure out what it means to be a 21st-century car company. The result is expected to hit the road by the end of the year, so pretty soon you can start spending all your gas money on your hefty electric bill. [Source: ValleyWag]
Filed under: Car Tech, Green Tech
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MadMike @ Apr 29th 2008 11:12AM
Actually, your electric bill won't rise that much. Tesla was reporting if you compared Miles to Charge to Miles to Gallon and the cost to do a full charge on the car and the cost to fill up a regular car that it would cost you only $0.55 a "gallon" theoretically. The truth behind that I guess is another thing.
Andy @ Apr 29th 2008 3:52PM
That battery fee is kind of hefty, but if you eliminate that you could have a car that doesn't cost anything to run. It's long been known that cars because they are made of metal, absorb a lot of heat, and that heat can be transferred into energy, a lot of energy so about the only time you'd really need to plug the car in is at night after a long drive.
Harvey Mechanic @ Apr 29th 2008 6:18PM
In your story you have an estimated cost of $17,000 but you then link to a story that quotes the cost to be $30,000?