Affordable Electric Cars Coming to US in 2009
Welcome Google search visitors: This is just one of many articles produced here on a daily basis at Gas 2.0. If you find this post interesting, sign up for our RSS feed and stay up to date on the future of transportation.
While we love hearing about sweet rides like the $100K Tesla Roadster, a functional and economical electric car made for the rest of us would be even cooler.
This could be it: the Th!nk City electric car, a four-seater with 110 mile range and top speed of 65 mph, priced under $25,000, made from 95% recyclable materials, and available in the U.S. in 2009.
The Th!nk City electric car is the product of Norwegian firm Th!nk Global, an auto manufacturer backed by Silicon Valley funding who has plans to assemble the cars in Southern California. In contrast to Tesla’s limited release of 300 cars per year, the Th!nk City is designed for mass production to the tune of 30-50,000 units within a few years. Th!nk already produces about 10,000 of these cars in Europe annually.
As an interesting aside, Ford Motor Company originally developed the vehicle, but (in a move they may soon regret), sold it to Norwegian investors in 2003. Why is it so cool? Because most of us don’t drive more than 40 miles in a day, and small electric cars are optimally suited for congested city driving. The benefits are pretty obvious, but if you’re worried about getting out for the weekend with the Th!nk City, don’t. Use it for city driving and keep that gas-guzzling SUV for forays into the mountains. You’ll still come out ahead.
Safety-wise, the Th!nk City meets the strict safety requirements of both Europe and the US as a highway-safe road car. ABS brakes, airbags, side-impact bars, and an advanced frame designed to absorb energy and distribute it away from the passenger’s compartment make it another blow to the myth that bigger cars are inherently safer.
If recent sales trends toward smaller vehicles are any indication (sales of Toyota Yaris up 70%), the Th!ink city could be very popular when released in the US.
Check out a few more pictures (below), and learn more from Th!nk’s website.
Addendum: Are plug-in electric vehicles a perfect answer to our transportation problems? I think you’ll see from the comments below that no, they aren’t. As one reader pointed out, dead batteries in the Th!nk City could take up to 10 hours to charge. That’s not only inconvenient, but putting 50,000 of these on the road could cause serious power draw (see Plug-In Hybrids Could Require 160 New Power Plants By 2030 (Or None At All and Plug-In Hybrids Use Over 17 Times More Water Than Regular Cars, Researchers Say). Since such a large portion of US power generation comes from coal, the increasing use of plug-in hybrid and electric cars will require serious consideration of other energy sources (for example, see How Solar Panels Could Power 90% of US Transportation).
Related Posts on Electric Cars:
- An Electric Car You Can Buy Today: The $20K TRIAC EV
- Aptera’s $26,000 Electric Car and 300 MPG Hybrid Coming Soon
- Tesla Motors Sues Fisker Automotive Over Electric Car Design
- Tesla’s First Electric Vehicle, 2008 Roadster, Now Under Production
- Subaru Unleashes R1e Electric Car on New York
- Chevy Volt’s Lithium-Ion Batteries Road- Tested By Month’s End
- Get 120 MPG Out of Your Prius (Plug It In)
- The Sporty Future of Electrics Cars: the Lightning GT
Photo Credits: Th!nk
I love it. Maybe I’ll get one, but I do have more research to do.
I like the idea, but I think $20-26K is still too much. Companies would sell a lot more cars if they were really affordable to the average income person,and even the below average. The people serving our country, teaching our children,stocking our store shelves, and checking us out in the grocery line are the ones who are in need of this car. You could sell these cars through the roof if they were around $15K families with teens could buy more than one, pretty much everyone in America would try to own one, and just think about your profits then. If this company is really earth friendly then they would price their car at a rate that would make everyone want to buy one and would let the people whose really need them be able to afford them.
I agree with the statement that the North American consumer has been brainwashed into owning a ’safer’ larger car with a big motor for power ‘when you need it’
All of a sudden in the 90s everyone needed minivans and SUVs
The Europeans have been running 1.0L to 1.5L cars for years. They drive at Hwy speeds and are much more efficient. The US car companies build and produce small cars for Europe which are not available in North America(that goes for diesels as well)
As for an electric car, if it could go 50 mph and go 50 miles it would be fine for 90% of most peoples’ daily needs. Work, School, Shopping. I’ll take one !!!
Now, if they could get the price down a little to coincide with an similar-sized gas model, they would stand a better chance of acceptance. $25,000 for a Think is too rich for me.
How about parking meters with plugs that provide electricity when you put coins in. This would put to rest peoples fears of running out of juice.
So I use this small electric car around town and when I want to go very far (for the weekend)–I call one of many car rental firms that give good deals on weekends…Couple three weekends per year of rental car cost less than insurnace and depreciation by far….
obviously there are many opinions on the above plug-ins including one that is homophobic. a great deal of the problem in the USA is that most cities are designed around the gas guzzeling suv. the cores of many american cities are dead and empty and the population is used to long and expensive commuting. in european and canadian cities where the core still houses the bulk of the population a electric car such as the think citycar is idea. as for the bicyclist above, while what he does works for him, he failed to inculude senions and others who are not as physically able.
the other question i would like answered is; does the battery efficiency drop in very cold weather?
all i want to know is where and when i can buy one.
Jim Kirk
So what’s the “Affordable” price you’re talking about? And does it use Lithium batteries? Does it have regenerative breaking? Can it let you drive in the car-pool lane by yourself? I WANT IT NOW! I’m getting a Triac! Just $19.995, and it’s available now.
I believe this car is a great idea, but it’s way too ugly. I would love to save gas and drive a hybrid, but even those are ugly. The Prius is one of the ugliest cars I have ever seen. I believe that if I am going to pay tens of thousands of dollars on something, I should get something that I enjoy looking at and being seen in. The Tesla roadster is an amazing car, now make it affordable.
I do drive a “smaller” engine car, and I am an american, but I am not about to stop complaining about gas prices. I have to travel about 100 miles a day for my job. I am in a different place everyday. I drive a 1.8T Audi and get about 28mpg. At these prices for gas, I am beraly surviving. We need this technology, we need to be able to convert existing vehicles. I would love to keep my car and just swap the engine for an electric one, but it’s just not worth the cost.
As the price of living goes up and wages go nowhere, how can anyone expect to survive. The reason americans are in so much trouble is the simple fact that the price of living has jump exponentialy in the past couple of years. We just can’t afford gas, food, heat, the insane housing crisis, and other essentials. This is creating our uneasyness about the economy, so we are not spending. Our dollar is worth next to nothing, so imports are incredibly expensive. We just can’t seem to find a way out of the mess we are in. We need to do something like get away from gas, it is at the root of all of our issues. All of the increases in goods and living essentials revolves around gas prices. It takes gas to deliver goods, it takes oil to produce a lot of the goods we buy (like plastic), it takes oil to make lubircants that are on the gears of many things we buy. Our lives need oil, if we can stop using it as a fuel for cars, we can lower it’s demand and focus it for other things (thus lowering their cost).
In the end, this car is a good idea. While they may produce it, it will not sell enough for people to acctually buy it due to its uglyness. I would never buy it based on its looks, no matter how expensive gas gets.
Please send this to new York we could sure us it.
I worked for Ford back in 1983 and sold new Fords - they made a Diesel Escort that got from 60- to 70 MPG back in 1983. Gas was cheep then and they did not sell very well, but my point is if we had that ability then to make that type car whats going on now?
I find it hard to belive the car companies can,t produce a 100 MPG car if they put thier moind to it.
I tried doing a search and looking at the manufacturer website, but i can’t locate a price for this car. It says under 25K but nothing more specific