OliNo

Renewable Energy

Electric Car Think City

Posted by Jeroen van Agt in Transport Add comments

thinkcity_026The Th!nk City is a 100% electric car designed from the start to be fully electric. The car has a range of 113 miles and a top speed of 65 mph. Pre-launch activities of the Th!nk city have started since 2009 in selected European markets like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and now recently Spain. Th!nk is investigating opportunities to establish a dedicated US manufacturing plant for assembly of the new TH!NK City.

Design

Th!nk Global is already creating electric cars for 17 years. The new Th!nk City is the 5th generation of electric cars of Th!nk. The Th!nk City is designed from the start to be a fully electric car; it is not a conventional car which is converted to be an electric car like most electric cars on the market now. The Th!nk City is designed that the batteries are located in the middle of the car, under the seating area. This provides for an optimum weight distribution.

Notable are the side indicator lights which are prominently placed on the wheel arches. TH!NK city’s body is made of recyclable ABS plastic, designed for city driving, ideal for anyone who would like to avoid visible scratches and irritating little dents.

thinkcity_019
The Th!nk city with the striking location of the side indicator lights

Mind box

The TH!NK city has a so called “Mind Box”: this is a small computer with GPS and GPRS (mobile) functionalities which enables seamless connectivity to the vehicle’s system.

The system transmits state of charge and other vehicle statistics directly to your mobile phone. The Mind Box will give the driver direct connection to a customer service function, and will automatically call for assistance when an airbag is deployed. Fleet managers are able to both locate and control the charge rate for all fleet vehicles.

thinkcity_030
The interior

Powertrain and batteries

The TH!NK city has a 3 phase asyncron electric motor with 30kW of power. There are three types of batteries available:

  • MES DEA – Zebra, 28.3kWh sodium
  • Enerdel, Li-ion
  • A123, Li-ion

Using FUDS (American standard for calculating range of electrical cars), the car has a range of 113 miles.

Safety

The car is equipped with ABS brakes, airbags and three-point safety belts with pretensioners. The advanced frame is designed to absorb energy and distribute it away from the passenger’s compartment. Even the dashboard and knee padding have been developed to absorb impact. To further protect the driver and passengers, both doors have side impact bars and pusher blocks made of shock-absorbent materials.

TH!NK city successfully complies with all mandatory passenger car vehicle type approval requirements and has recveived the Pan European EV homologation certificate. TH!NK city also meets the requirements of the CE marking system for electric appliances.

thinkcity_025
The back of the Th!nk city

Energy Usage

The car has an energy usage of 266 Wh/mile. The average US residential retail price for electricity in 2009 was $0.11 / kWh. The price per mile is 0,266 kWh x $0.11 = $0.0293 or 2.9 dollar-cent per mile. A full battery load will cost you 28.3 kWh x $0.11 = $3.11. With these full batteries you have a range of 113 miles.

Specifications

Energy Usage 266 Wh/km
Weight 3073 lbs
Range 113 miles
Power 30 kW
Battery capacity 28.3 kWh
Battery type Lithium-ion
Charge time batteries 80% (230V 14A) 9,5 hr
Charge time batteries 100% (230V 14A) 13 hr
Acceleration 0-31 mph 6.5s
Acceleration 0-50 mph 16s
Top Speed 65 mph

Videos


Th!nk test drive at Geneva Motors

Availability

Pre-launch activities of the TH!NK city have started since 2009 in selected European markets like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and now recently Spain. TH!NK city vehicles are in this pre-launch phase primarily being sold to municipal fleet, government and utility partners for early adoption EV pilot and demonstration fleets, supported by government incentives to help reduce the initial high cost of the batteries.

Th!nk has applied for DoE loans in the States and is investigating opportunities to establish a dedicated US manufacturing plant for assembly of the new TH!NK City. These processes will take some time and therefore we cannot say for certain when the TH!NK city will be available on the US market.

Interesting links

Your opinion / more info

What do you think of this car? Or do you have more information about this car?
Let us know by giving a comment below. Please add the url where you found this information.

One Response to “Electric Car Think City”

  1. briansclub Says:

    Electric car sales are growing faster than oil prices and fluctuating as much. This trend is really exciting, not only environmentally friendly but also economically sound. Electric cars are fast becoming more affordable each year, which means we could soon be driving electric cars everywhere we go.

Leave a Reply

WP Theme & Icons by N.Design Studio
Privacy Policy Entries RSS Comments RSS Log in