Electric carmaker Think hits the accelerator

It was a year ago that venture capitalist and solar energy entrepreneur Jan-Olaf Willums appeared at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco shortly after taking over Think Global, a Norwegian electric car maker once owned by Ford (F). Willums and his partners had just secured their first round of funding and unveiled plans to revive Think and a zippy urban runabout called the Think City. This week Willums made a return appearance at the 2008 Cleantech Forum and showed just how fast an automotive startup can move amid the lumbering dinosaurs of Detroit.

Green Wombat caught up with the ever-cheerful Willums over coffee Wednesday (unlike his American counterparts he meets the press without the PR minders that seem to accompany every exec everywhere). A day earlier on a panel about alternative transportation he dropped something of a bombshell: At the Geneva Auto Show on Tuesday Think will unveil its next-generation car, a sleek five-seat sedan.

Willums, who has raised $93 million from U.S. and European investors, was keeping mum on the identity of its big-league partner until Tuesday but did say that new model was not just a concept car. "We have designed a five-seater show car but it really is much more than that," says Willums (photo above). "It is very much a car that can be produced and it looks like the car that will produced." The plan is to offer the next-gen Think in 2011 as an all-electric as well as well as a so-called series hybrid that uses a small engine to charge the battery and extend its range. (The current Think City has a range of 180 kilometers --112 miles.)

The drawing Willums briefly displayed on the panel showed an stylish aerodynamic four-door sedan. He says Think is planning to later produce a crossover SUV and coupe version of the car. Silicon Valley electric car startup Tesla's next car also is a five-seater sedan, code-named White Star. "We won't compete with Tesla," says Willums. "The Tesla will be more a BMW; we'll be more the Volkswagen."

In the meantime, the two-seater Think City is rolling off the production line at the company's factory outside Oslo and the first 500 cars are set for delivery to customers in March. (For the Think back story and my 2007 Business 2.0 magazine feature on the company and its innovative business model click here.) Production will be fully ramped up by the end of 2008 and Think aims to produce 10,000 cars a year.

Willums also tells Green Wombat that Think later this week will introduce the City to London and Paris. Think's strategy is to pursue urban markets that offer incentives for electric vehicles. For instance, for electric cars London waives the $15 congestion "congestion fee" charged for driving into the city and offers free parking. France gives EV buyers a $7,500 rebate. Think plans to begin selling the City in those markets in early 2009. Think has also established a subsidiary in Denmark

The company's North American plans are still in flux. "We hope to have a plant in the U.S. in 2009," he says. As with Europe, Think will target urban markets in the U.S., such as San Francisco and New York.

Think has markedly picked up the pace since I last met Willums in Oslo. That's due in part, he says, because of the big automakers' more aggressive moves to get into the electric car market, such as General Motors (GM) with its Chevy Volt electric hybrid.

It also seems increasingly clear that innovative startups like Think will survive by making strategic partnerships with bigger players and moving nimbly into select and potentially profitable markets. Whether Think will be a drive-away success remains to be seen but its clear Willums is hitting the accelerator.

Comments

[David]

I cannot wait for the Th!nk City to hit America like a storm. There IS a market for commuter type vehicles and I'm just looking for the line so I can take my place in it. I want one.

If I remember correctly, the original price tag for the Th!nk City was less than $5,000 and had a top speed of about 45mph.

Does anyone know differently?

[anonymous]

Since the previous Th!nk vehicle was never sold in the US, its price could not have been $5,000. From what I have gathered the price for the monthly rental was subsidized as part of the experimental program with station cars.

[Jeff Deasy]

I want to urge support for the legislation just passed by the House of Representatives to provide tax breaks for wind power, solar power, other alternative energy sources, and energy conservation.

The money is to come from the elimination of tax breaks for the oil and gas industry that would amount to $18 billion over the next 10 years. The 5 largest oil companies earned more than $120 billion in net profits last year.

The bill is expected to face opposition in the U.S. Senate and face a potential veto by President Bush, making it critical that concerned citizens contact those elected to represent them and make themselves heard.

[Doug Anderson]

I hope you produce enough cars so a couple of million people can buy them. Congress and the President would clearly showthemseleves to be controlled not by voters but by oil lobbies if they don't vote, or even subsidize your production of this car into the United States