Small Electric Car May Usher In Big Changes

An anonymous reader sends us to a profile in CNNMoney.com on a Norwegian car company that is building a compact, plug-in electric car, the Think City, that will go on sale in Europe early next year. It could hit US markets in 2009. The CEO is working with Silicon Valley VCs and with Google, Tesla Motors, PG&E, and Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway. Plans are to sell the car only on the Web. No dealers, cheap manufacturing plants, and a battery pack that you lease, not buy — there's potential here for shaking up the auto industry the way Dell did PCs.

Comments

Re:Big Changes, huh?

[Jhon]

I challenge you to make a car for under $13k that will pass the TSA safety rules.

I'm not in the business of designing cars. I am, however, a consumer. I'm more than willing to pay a reasonable price for a reasonable product.

Also, I challenge you to make a cheap deep-cycle rechargeable battery. Granted, $35K sounds a bit steep.

$35k is the price of the car+battery -- so we're talking about ~$20k.

That said, we're talking about a car, when financed, will run you about $300/mo (assuming you've excellent credit and a lowball price around $13k, rather than $17k) + a $100-$200 "monthly fee" for the battery. For that price, I can buy a modest car, factor in gas at $5/gallon (should it hit that mark in the US during the life of the car -- it's about $3 now) and STILL come out ahead.

Plus I'd have a 250-350 mile range and a much higher top-speed.

I'm annoyed as hell I cant go out now and buy an electric car. My commute is 30 miles each way; surely within range for today's technology.

It certainly *IS* within the range of today's technology -- and you CAN go out and buy an electric car. Just expect to spend about $35k and fairly substantial maintenance costs if you plan on doing anything other than leasing it. As you pointed out -- batteries aren't cheap.