Affordable Electric Cars Coming to US in 2009
Want your own? Sign up to be notified when/if we can get you a group purchasing discount on an electric car.
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. You can also follow the author or Gas 2.0 on Twitter.
>> Update: Think City: An Affordable Electric Car you Won’t See Until 2010
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).
My recommendation: Get yourself a plug-in hybrid as soon as they become available and then put solar panels on your roof through a community solar purchasing program.
Updates [1/28/2009]:
More Photos of the TH!NK City:
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’m glad SOMEONE is bringing back the electric car (watch, Who Killed the Electric Car) because GM sure the heck isn’t and neither is the Bush administration. It’s all about money
Would be great for a city car. I believe that it is over priced at 25K. It would be much more competitive at 15-18K. Unless fuel goes up a LOT more I can buy a lot of it to make up the difference between the cost of 17K for my Toyota Matrix and 25K for this new electric car. A last note is HOW DUMB is Ford feeliing now - they shojuld have sold the rights to the Excursion!!!
Can anyone tell me who to contact to make a purchase? I don’t care if I have to ship it myself. Petrolium is too expensive.
I read the blogs here … let’s just make the purchases and stop complaining about the inconveniences. Action speaks louder than words.
Someone should sue GM for eliminating the EV-1. This was a crime. Certainly the OIL GIANTS had their hand on someone’s family jews to cause that.
Special interests in the US are preventing us from having these electric vehicles sold here in the US. Is there no one that can help us common people ?
How about a Logical Addendum to your Silly Addendum
NO electric cars will NOT increase the load on the grid. THIS IS A MYTH.
How do you think gasoline gets from the refinery to your gas tank ? Fairy Dust?
It takes electricity. A lot of it. MORE than what this car will use driving you around town. IE the NET LOAD on the grid will DECREASE as we use less and less gasoline and therefore less electricity shoving gasoline around in gas stations billboards advertising etc.. etc.. etc..
I only need a 65 mile range. and I have a LONG commute. 53 miles EACH way. I drive to work. Plug in. Drive home Plug in.
$1 worth of electricity used 50 cents at each location. Only a moron would thing that much electricity would even make the power company BLINK.
If I turn on an electric heater of an air conditioner I will use far far more power in that same period of time.
People are not ready for these short range cars because they are TOO EXPENSIVE to be a second car. Once these things get down to $10,000 they will be FREE. The amount of gas you would buy each month for your commute to to work will be greater than the CAR PAYMENT for such a vehicle. IE its FREE.
Once critical ass is reached and we have enough R&D dollars will be spent and the range problem will be solved.
“angry about wasting our fuel said on April 24th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Why don’t you american go on, driving your 5-7 Liter SUV cars? Now every american snivels about alternative fuels when gasoline is pricy. What have you done until now? I tell you: wasting oil with such cars, that oil which belongs to the mankind and not to the american nation! This is already an stereotype about americans here in Europe. Amerivans in their big-engine-SUVs .
Where is the problem driving a 1.4 or 1.6 Liter car?”
NOT my fault. The car I WANT the 1.2 litre 50mpg diesels are ILLEGAL here and far to expensive to import
THATS not my fault.
no thing green about a think
have you looked under the board of directors?
do you see who you are promoting here?
can you get a grip?
they are not even selling the car complete,
bueno, you have to rent the batteries, for ever !
meaning, as long as you own the vehicle, you pay almost 300 per month to people you would never want to meet in a dark alley, who are armed as in the Pentagon,
need another hint?
Do something more than repeat the party line for once,
you can do this, you can google, you are educated,
you can spell, all good, use it
and save us the grief.
If there were a viable electric car
actually available, ligit, decent price,
made with something besides slave labor and plastic,
it would not need you to announce it, I assure you.
I like it, I want to buy one, thanks, Rudy.
[...] Too expensive? Check these two out: An Electric Car You Can Buy Today: The $20K TRIAC EV and Affordable Electric Cars Coming to US in 2009. [...]
[...] the Think City electric car, is slated to be available in the US in 2009. Also stop on by Gas 2.0 and check out the comments section of the post written on the Think City, in which commenters raise [...]
Where can I buy one