click the Th!nk Ox for a high res gallery

ABG reader Phil recently contacted us regarding a post we wrote a month ago about a possible announcement from Th!nk on working with a "major automaker" to bring electric cars to market. The announcement never came - although we did hear about the Th!nk Ox and GE's big investment in the company - and Phil was curious about what had happened. We contacted Th!nk and heard from Don Cochrane, Th!nk UK's sales and marketing director. He told us that, "Nothing is about to be announced as far as TH!NK working with another OEM though the TH!NK Ox would require partnership for us to bring it to market," so don't look for anything soon. If the Ox is ever going to be reality, though, someone is going to have to step up. Cochrane did say that, "There will be announcements coming up which I hope will help catalyze our position in the market," so EV fans can keep their fingers crossed these will be a big boost for the Norwegian company.


[Source: Th!nk]

click to enlarge

March has been a big month for Th!nk, with the news about $4m investments and the new Ox model out of Geneva. We knew EV fans in Norway would be able to buy a Th!nk City soon, and the good news for Britons is that the City will be available to order in the UK sometime "during the last quarter of this year." Smart Planet notes that the Th!nk City's running costs of around 1.25p a mile are a good place to be and "exactly halfway between the usual stated costs of the G-Wiz and the Mega City." While the Th!nk City does take longer to charge than some other EVs (10 hours at a standard plug vs. 4-6), you get more performance from it. 124 miles per charge being the big one; a little bit of punch with a 0-30 speed of 6.5 seconds being the other. UK buyers can expect to pay £14,000 (just under $28,000US) for a Th!nk City - plus £100 per month for a battery rental. Details after the jump.

Not sure if this qualifies as one of those "small step, giant leap" type of stories, but I do feel that yesterday marked an important milestone in the revived electric car market. That was the day when Norwegian electric car maker Th!nk's first EV minicar rolled off the production line in Norway. According to Automotive News Europe, these cars will soon undergo crash testing and Think Global CEO Jan-Olaf Willums said in a statement that, "This project is on time. We are building full production cars with all the right components from the right suppliers." Those suppliers include Autoliv, Continental and Robert Bosch.

Th!nk minicar sales will start in Norway sometime in the first half of 2008, with other European countries to follow. ANE says Th!nk wants to build between seven and ten thousand cars a year by 2009. For more on Th!nk, click on this link for posts in our new Th!nk category.

Related:

• Could Norway ban all gasoline powered cars?

[Source: Douglas A. Bolduc / Automotive News Europe]