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

Did you read that part about Kamen?

[nietsch]

He is trying to fit a compact stirling engine in.
So your comment was rather superfluous, except for the 'I' part. Which we are not interested in.

Re:Big Changes, huh?

[Blakey Rat]

Small Electric Car May Usher In Big Changes... just like the last 200 small electronic cars that ushered in big changes.

Seriously, though, nobody's going to take you seriously if you can't use the car to haul groceries. If your car doesn't have at least the utility of a Toyota Echo, then just give up now.

Re:More like the big changes on terror

[i.r.id10t]

Have you noticed how poorly the average (American at least, I've not driven elsewhere - yet) driver drives? Cell phones, makeup, the $7 starbucks coffee "drink", etc. They can barely handle 2 dimensions where motion in one is in a constant direction. Handle 3 dimensions? No way....

Re:Big Changes, huh?

[mikael]

There are also "Smart Cars" in Europe. They were originally intended for seniors who weren't licensed to drive more powerful cars and just wanted to make travel across town rather than across the country roads. Now many other people wanted to use them for traveling between villages because of their high mileage/gallon rate, so they're a bit of a hazard as they tend to appear out of nowhere from behind other vehicles.