Published on January 5th, 2010 | by Nick Chambers

Th!nk Chooses Elkhart, Indiana, To Build City Electric Car for U.S.

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After a long process of on-again, off-again pseudo confirmations of potential sites, Norwegian EV company Th!nk has officially chosen Elkhart, Indiana, as the location of its U.S. electric car manufacturing facility. For a company that, as recently as a year ago, was swirling in the flushed toilet bowl of failed EV startups, this marks a major turning point.

As a brand, Th!nk has a surprisingly long and complex history. Started as a Norwegian company called Pivco in 1991, the company spent all its money designing a small electric car platform and nearly went bust then. When California originally made its zero emissions vehicle mandate in the 90s, Ford saw the platforms developed by Pivco as the path of least resistance to meet the California mandate and bought the company. As part of Ford, the TH!NK City was born and further developed, but when the California EV mandate was struck down, Th!nk was spun off and became a small independent EV developer in Norway once again. This part of the City EV’s history will be familiar to those of you who’ve seen “Who Killed the Electric Car?”.

In the economic downturn of the last 2 years, Th!nk hit some very rough patches, eventually declaring bankruptcy and then, as part of a restructuring deal, was financed and bought by several investors, including the Indiana based battery supplier, Ener1. So, really, siting the manufacturing facility in Indiana only makes sense for a company that is largely financed by another Indiana-based company.

According to the Elkhart Truth, the Elkhart site was chosen after negotiations with a property owner in Middlebury, Indiana, broke down. The Elkhart city council voted to give Th!nk a phased in tax credit that should provide about $3 million dollars in savings to the company.

Source: AutoBlogGreen

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Tags: city, elkhart, Ener1, ox, Th!nk, Think, Think City, Think Ox, thinkcity, thinkox

About the Author

Nick Chambers Not your traditional car guy.

JJ

So Think is alive again, jolly glad to hear that.

In chapter 20 of that EV car book by David Mackay called “Sustainable Energy — without the hot air” he discusses the issues of ICE cars and why they need to be electrocuted. Unfortunately no mention of Think, but Tesla is mentioned, lots of nice pics of monster SUVs and why they might be unsustainable. I’ll have to write to him about that. This book only costs 0 liters/km too so it is a bargain.

Found it, page 136 a pic of Think!

It also discusses all the issues of energy intensity of western lifestyles, just how much energy we really use. Even accounts for the street and traffic lights per person cost and those pesky never ending power hogs, the dreaded cell phone charger.
JJ

So Think is alive again, jolly glad to hear that.

In chapter 20 of that EV car book by David Mackay called “Sustainable Energy — without the hot air” he discusses the issues of ICE cars and why they need to be electrocuted. Unfortunately no mention of Think, but Tesla is mentioned, lots of nice pics of monster SUVs and why they might be unsustainable. I’ll have to write to him about that. This book only costs 0 liters/km too so it is a bargain.

Found it, page 136 a pic of Think!

It also discusses all the issues of energy intensity of western lifestyles, just how much energy we really use. Even accounts for the street and traffic lights per person cost and those pesky never ending power hogs, the dreaded cell phone charger.
http://neilblanchard.vox.com/library/posts/ Neil Blanchard

I like it, too! Apparently, they will sell some Th!nk City car here (in the USA) before this plant is up and running. I wonder what the cost will be after incentives?

Sincerely, Neil
http://neilblanchard.vox.com/library/posts/ Neil Blanchard

I like it, too! Apparently, they will sell some Th!nk City car here (in the USA) before this plant is up and running. I wonder what the cost will be after incentives?

Sincerely, Neil
http://www.moteurnature.com/ Moteur Nature

This sounds good. We’ve all heard about Tesla’s plan to open a factory in California, but besides the newcomers, we need the people with an automotive history to make the switch to electric cars.

They will build electric cars in Indiana! Nobody would have thought of that a few years ago. Now, if they can make it affordable… I would not be surprised by a $30000 price tag with the batteries.
http://www.moteurnature.com/ Moteur Nature

This sounds good. We’ve all heard about Tesla’s plan to open a factory in California, but besides the newcomers, we need the people with an automotive history to make the switch to electric cars.

They will build electric cars in Indiana! Nobody would have thought of that a few years ago. Now, if they can make it affordable… I would not be surprised by a $30000 price tag with the batteries.
Hugo90

Elkhart is the perfect site, the city of motorhome and travel trailer production for decades. That industry is in disaster mode, so Elkhart has plenty of manufacturing capacity and experienced work force.
Hugo90

Elkhart is the perfect site, the city of motorhome and travel trailer production for decades. That industry is in disaster mode, so Elkhart has plenty of manufacturing capacity and experienced work force.