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
Affordable Electric Cars Coming to US in 2009 | nerdd.net…
\r\nWhile we love hearing about sweet rides like the $100K Tesla Roadster, a functional and economic…
I agree with WTF and guess I will wait for the Think OX that looks much more ‘adult’ or ’serious’…
I agree with poster above me, gay might not be the correct word though. It certainly does look stupid. I cannot understand why they don’t make these cars more stylish.
Frank,
It may not be for you but it would be great for me. Most of the people I work with are all two car households. I could see 90% being able to use a car like this as their second car. Its perfect for the “soccer mom” who runs a few errands, picks the kids up, etc. but is home a lot of the day where the car could charge between short trips.
There are great car sharing programs available in most cities now so if you had this car, but needed to run out of town for the weekend, there is one available.
I got rid of my car two months ago and joined one of these programs. It works great, they have two Prius’ parked within a mile of my house. Just open your mind and think about the possibilities!
Frank,
You make a good point if you are a single person and your choice is between owning one car or two. However, for a family with 2+ vehicles, I see no reason that at least one of them can’t have a fairly short range.
What I wish is that this country had a better passenger train system. I live in Columbia, SC, but Amtrak won’t even take me to Atlanta unless I want to go several hundred miles out of the way. Apparently, trains out of this city can’t go east or west.
I wonder how long they take to charge. On some of the newer batteries, I’ve seen really impressive charge times of 10 minutes. A 10 minute charge time, of course, means that you could drive the car anywhere you’d want to go without worrying about how far you can go on one charge.
I want mine to look like a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited X and be a gas/electric hybrid just in case the electricity runs out. Why can’t they stick to something like that? Heck, the gas engine could be designed such that it is tiny and pathetic and can only get a top speed of 80mph — just something to get me the last 5 miles home.
bwhahahahahha that thing is funny lookin’. i just want to punt it.
American’s have bigger roads…bigger roads need bigger cars. Myself, I drive a Chevy Cavalier…not big at all and it gets decent gas mileage. But the roads here need a bigger car so we don’t get lost. You said you’re from Europe…France for example, is about the size of the state of Texas here. So, the US is quite a bit bigger. We do things big…it’s how we are.
Now don’t get em wrong, I’m kinda excited about an electric car, but America is about the freedom to do what you want. So if I want to drive a Hummer, I damn sure will, even if it gets 3.5 mpg….
Why not just buy a scooter?
And you (Yankee, I presume) who brags about your tiny engine, what do you do when you need to transport your wife, three kids, and two dogs?