Th!nk Ox: An Electric Car With Style and Smarts
Norwegian company Th!nk is hoping to kick start the market for electric cars with its upcoming five-seater, the Ox.
Although an Ox is not what I’d call a particularly stylish or intelligent animal, don’t let the name confuse you — the Th!nk Ox could be about the most attractive and functional electric car ever designed. Before the debate starts over that claim, note the all-important “and” between the words attractive and functional.
Due out in 2010/2011, the Ox is about the size of a Toyota Prius. It can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 8.5 seconds, travel between 125 and 155 miles on a single charge, and its lithium-ion batteries can be charged to 80% capacity in less than an hour.
Solar panels on its roof power equipment such as the radio, navigation system, instrument panel, and air conditioning — even while parked with the car switched off.
The Ox is fully connected: GPS, mobile internet, a customizable digital dashboard, as well as a whole host of other modern features, all link the driver to his or her surroundings.
In April we wrote about Th!nk’s new North American partnership with venture firms RockPort Capital and Kleiner Perkins. This partnership gave rise to ThInk North America.
It may not seem like a big deal, but Rockport Capital and Kleiner Perkins have an excellent track record when it comes to choosing and investing in winners. Indeed, both firms provided much needed funding to companies such as Amazon and Google when they were mere start-ups.
These days, with the number of start-up electric vehicle companies nearing the ridiculous stage, it’s hard to know who among them will actually stand the test of time.
Yet Th!nk has positioned itself to be a promising competitor in the race, and, from the get-go, looks as if it has endurance.
Not only does Think have the backing of the above venture powerhouses, its first vehicle, the City, is already being sold in Europe for around US $25,000. Think is on track to sell about 10,000 of them there this year.
With the establishment of Think North America, the City will be available to US customers by early 2009. What does this mean for the rest of us? Given that Th!nk already has a working product and has the backing of some prestigious financiers, it looks like the Ox is for real. It’s exciting to think it might be my next car.
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Image credits: Th!nk Global
Source: Businessweek
Hopefully they will be sold in Canada, as domestic EVs are too low speed (not street legal).
MikeTravaline, Toronto, ON, Canada
Found out where they got the idea to have the solar panels on the roof
http://www.edn.com/index.asp?layout=blog&blog_id=1470000147&blog_post_id=30010203
@Quoccus
“soooo instead of directly consuming fossil fuel we’re going to indirectly consume it. hey geniusus where do you think the power point to charge this car uses.”
This is why the same people who buy these types of cars should buy solar panels for their home and use that energy for when they plug in the vehicle.
Very cool. Solar technology as well as electric car tech is finally coming into the mainstream. This is due to prices coming down as well as conventional power going up.
IS THERE A WAY OF RESERVING ONE OF THE U.S. THINK ELECTRIC VEHICLES?
It’s not very good looking…
I already sent this comment but it wasn’t published…does anyone know the approximate price of the Ox when it is marketed in US?
Most people will need and use electric cars, the problem is that the manufacturing company using cars that use diesel fuel of Gas, will go out of business, you will not need to buy a OIL filter, no more fuel to buy, the governement will lose a fortune on taxing fuel that no one uses. So what they are going to do, prevent the sale of Electric cars
We can all learn something from what Al Gore had to say the past few weeks. Unless we become self reliant for our energy requirements, we will never again be an independent democratic nation.
We can start with a fundamental change in our driving habits that is now required.
The Automobile Industry is going to be in the same position as the Airline Industry in the next few months. Unless we get away from gas combustion vehicles, including Hybrids, the automobile industry (as we know it) will die.We need to make drastic moves. America needs to move to ELECTRIC. The vehicles are not as fast, not always as fun to drive, but the move will save Americans money (Billions) and help bring change to our automotive companies. Let’s “Be Green”!!!!!!!!!!!! BG Automotive Group Ltd. has a car that will travel 80-100 miles per charge for $15,995. Finally a car that most Americans can afford. Did you know that 80% of all drivers, drive less than 50 miles per day? This new car will cost an equivalent of $0.20-0.25 cents/gallon (depending on electricity rates in your area). Why send $700 Billion per year to OPEC (now buying up U.S. companies) when we can use this money for our schools, health care, social security for all Americans, etc, etc, etc. We can make the difference if WE change.
What about the infrastructure for charging all these coming electric vehicles?