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I got a Thinkmobility several years ago. With Gas hitting near $2/gallon in my area its looking to be a decent investment.

However thinkmobility has tanked their bike lines after Ford went back to regular electic vehicles.

Me, I think they took the incentive money for low emmission vehicles and ran.

Lee Iococca also started an entire new company for his bikes.

I think the biggest hold backs to Western adoption of such vehicles
1) Former use of SLA batteries; NextGen LION has just arrived
2) Lack of adequate storage -- dont get a folder buy/rent a shed! Typical bike sheds (home & work) are needed as electric bikes are too big an investment to have someone huck it in the back of the F350 truck. They are much lighter than vespas but still heavy enough to deter most thieves given most come with a key ignition
3) Lack of common components; Battery sets and chargers need to somehow standardize

I can get to work, in an hour, 15mi, with a fully loaded briefcase and work clothes at a mild peddle speed without breaking a sweat. My spandex wearing 21 speeder co-workers have no such luggage ability and must undergo daily scrotum scrunch.

I have to stay off highway and take a bit longer course as my top burst speed is 18mph which kills the battery. I live in a very hilly area and use them to my advantage as I can use the peddle assist on the light hills and use big hills and gravity elsewhere.

The best part is the company is unknowninly paying to charge my battery as it charges under my desk!
Who needs cubical lights?

Ford Ranger for lease

these are. If you want to stick with pure electric, you might consider two more options:

The Corbin Sparrow II is a small electric three-wheeled thing built in CA.

And the Th!nk City, built by a company purchased recently by Ford, is available for demonstration lease in California now -- evidently for only $200 per month. (You're already familiar with such leases, since you've got an EV1.) Pretty sure it won't meet your top speed requirement, though.

Another choice might be the Toyota Electric RAV 4, an electric SUV for commuters.

I would not consider a parallel drive hybrid: the mechanical complexity of having both the electric and the gasoline motor drive the car must be high, and you can get pure gasoline cars with equivalent mileage. Unfortunately, most (all?) current choice for gas/electric hybrids are parallel drive.

If your looking for an electric Vehicle, maybe you should consider the Th!nk City. It doesn't quite reach 65 MPH, but it does qualify for HOV lane stickers and you can help bring the car to market by participating in their special testing lease.

Just a note ahead of time. Some of the cars listed below are only available in certain parts of California and are only available in relatively low numbers.

Pure Electric:

2002 The Nissan Altra EV (pilot?)
2002 Ford Thi!nk City
2002 Toyota Rav4-EV
2002 Lido Motors Lido
2002 Ford Ranger EV (fleet only?)
2002 Nissan HyperMini (pilot only?)
Selectria Force (out of production?)

Hybrids:

2003 Honda Civic Hybrid
2002 Honda Insight
2002 Toyota Prius

Web Sites of Interest:

EV World
US DoE Alternative Fuel Car Buying Guide (many listed)
US DoE Alternative Fuel Vehicle Listing (many listed)
California ZEV Buyers Guide

The State of California passed legislation in 1993 mandating that all dealers in California must have a ZEV (Zero Emmission Vehicle) available within ten years(2003). The manufacturers have fought this all the way to the top.

In preparation for actually having to have ZEVs they are getting prototypes out on the road. One prototype is the Ford Think City.

The Ford company does not seem to want to sell these, it is as if they will not make them available unless they are forced. There are a few dozen prototypes currently on the road, and Ford has talked about a launch on (conviniently) January 2003 right when the law might come into effect. These ZEVs, if they are let loose into the streets of California just may become popular, and that would be hard on the oil industry companies etc.

In case they are forced to release ZEVs they do have them ready, as do other manufacturers. So you might want to wait until January 2003, and a whole load of new ZEV might be available in California. Unless of course the courts throw out the legislation at the last moment.

Think Mobility

Some other people have mentioned Ford's Electric division TH!NK, which was a Sweedish company that Ford bought a few years back. They are selling the TH!NK City in some markets now, as well as two models of electric-assist bicycles, and a souped-up golf cart called the TH!NK neighbor, which is targetted at people in subdivisions with low speed limits.

The TH!NK website also mentions some other Ford products, like 50 EV Ford Rangers available for lease in S. Cal, and the upcoming Focus FCV, a hydrogen fuel cell Ford Focus which Ford has announced will go on sale to fleet buyers in 2004 and they hope to sell to the public in 2008.

http://www.thinkmobility.com/homeUS.asp?TID=661439

A friend of mine just saw a Ford Think in LA the other night. Looks like something you should consider with those others.

P

You mean like this?

The car you are referring to is called a TH!NK City. Information can be found here.

I was shopping for a car back in November and noticed this at a Ford dealer here in San Diego (Pearson Ford on El Cajon Blvd, but interestingly their alternative fuel vehicle page makes no mention of the Think). I've seen at least one of them on I-805 going to and from work also. The Think website says they will be available in 2002.

One of the images on the Google image search page mentioned previously is supposed to be an electric vehicle but it ain't. The Smart car (made by some involvement of Daimler and sold only in Europe) is gas-powered but is very much the same size and shame as the Think city.

Another odd thing about the Think city is that the body panels seem to be mostly plastic. The same dealership had the opensided golfcard model, which they call the Think neighbor.

This thing is probably expensive and weighs a ton. Oooh, it stands up on its own, how have I lived without it! If you want an electric personal transportation device, TH!NK about one of these instead.

I work at Ford's Enviromental Vehicle project and i can't legally speak for them. Without trying to give out anything proprietary, in general, energy density is the real killer. 1 kg of gasoline efficiently tapped can give you 42-44 Megajoules. NiCad, Lead-Acid and Sodium-Sulfur of the same weight barely have a fraction of this energy. To replace 16 gallon (approx 42.39kg) of gasoline you need 14838.768 kg of lead acid battery. This is ten times the average weight of a car (around 1500kg). Since the car is 11 times heavier it should require 11 times more fuel. You do the math. It may more costly to your pocket and the enviroment (more energy use and heat dissipation).

Ultracaps? That's great. I know one company that sells ultracaps with 10,850.69 Joules/kg. Packs a punch for your house intruder but can't you anywhere (literally).

Ah.... somebody mentioned fuel cells. You can check out one of the suppliers ballard This is promising but the energy conversion unit is still heavy. Hydrogen actually packs more energy than gasoline: 38khw/kg (that's about 136.8 mejajoules/kg). Unfortunately, it hoards a lot of space. We could use methanol and carry methanol->hydrogen reformer that would take up more weight. After reliasing that the conversion unit takes more weight you begin to wonder, why don't you burn the hydrogen in the first place, instead of investing in the fuel cell stack, electric drivetrain and stuff? We are bothering with eletric motor? Why can't we just improve the efficiency of the internal combustion engine?

Relative to electric motor, internal combustion engine (ICE) is highly inefficient. While good motor with a good controller can give you close to 95% efficiency, an ICE is at 17% in a good day. Worse it's peak efficiency is at certain torque and at certain speed. That is why we have gearbox system and clutch. When the car stops, you have supply it with some fuel to keep spinning (idling) which is 100% loss (0% efficient). With electric motor you can adjust your torque and speed electrically and reclaim energy in braking.

I think I better stop here. in the meantime you are welcome to buy Ford electric bicycles and other stuff http://www.thinkmobility.com

Hasdi
Not speaking for Ford