Wall St Journal article on Th!nk

[Marc Geller]

WSJ published an article on Th!nk's status. Here's the link. Not sure they got everything right.

"In the race to get electric cars to market, the Norwegian start-up Think Global AS was one of the front-runners. It snagged big-name venture-capital backing and in 2008 manufactured about 350 of its latest model, a two-seater, plug-in city car. It planned to ramp up production to 10,000 units this year.

Then the financial crisis hit...."


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123292783557913869.html

[Speculawyer]

Actually, according to Enderdel, their batteries have great low temp performance.
http://enerdel.com/content/view/104/87/#temperature

Perhaps that is why Th!nk went with Enerdel instead of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4).

[Electric Aid]

That is true =) Both for the shipment and the temperature. I guess the thought is that you take the average of a marked and find the battery that is most suitable for that environment.

As for the lithium I think they where just about to ship some of those models to Denmark before the creditcrunch. But I get your point. The author should maybe have said " batteries that will power the Think City when it reaches the U.S

[Speculawyer]

And since they've only shipped in Norway so far . . . :-)

BTW, It is warmer in much of Norway than in Minnesota.

[Electric Aid]

Zebra Sodium is only for the Norwegian market since its so friggin´cold here. So for the rest its lithium

[Speculawyer]

Also, it says Th!nk got a loan from Ener1 "which was making the lithium-ion batteries that power Think's cars." But I don't think any Th!nk City cars have Lithium batteries in them yet. I think they've all been the Zebra Sodium batteries so far.

[Speculawyer]

The article should mention that Ford sold Th!nk because the big 3 auto makers successfully waged a war against the California Air Resource Board (CARB) and got them to eliminate their EV requirement.