Think EV comes to North America
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and RockPort Capital Partners have formed a joint venture with Norwegian electric car maker Think Global to bring their highway-speed, crash-tested car to the U.S. market in 2009. Kleiner Perkins managing partner Ray Lane, who is chairman of the new Think North America, called the creation of the joint venture and plans to mass-manufacture an electric car in the United States a “seminal event” along the way to zero-emission transportation. “The transportation industry is undergoing its largest transformation since Henry Ford built the Model T,” said Lane.
The Think City model is 95 per cent recyclable and reaches a top speed of 65 miles (100 kilometres) an hour. It can also drive up to 110 miles (180 kilometres) on a single charge, though I’m guessing that varies depending on the battery technology used. Think Global is working with two battery technologies: On the lithium-ion side, the car can use a nanophosphateTM system produced by A123, or a lithium manganese system from Enerdel; another option is a nickel-sodium chloride “Zebra” battery from MES DEA SA.
This announcement merely adds momentum to an exciting trend. The fact that Kleiners and RockPort are getting behind this and directly steering the new Think company is yet another sign that EVs aren’t just a passing fad. A number of startups and some of the big automakers are in a race to get the first mass-market electric vehicle to market over the next year or two. This competition is healthy, and will continue to drive the kind of battery innovation we need to truly see EV vehicles reach mass appeal.
Me, I drive a little 1997 Honda Civic hatchback. My next car will be electric — either all or plug-in. I can’t wait until that purchase day comes.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I also am stalling to buy a new car until an EV comes to market. I cannot wait to silently glide into my driveway!
Darklamp
April 21st, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Tyler, if you were a betting man, do you think your first electric car will be a think or a cityZENN?
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
maybe we should go in on a group buy Tyler?
I can’t wait until the day that there is a commercially produced EV available to Canadian / Ontario drivers at a competitive cost.
If it does not happen in the next few years, I will use one of my garaged classic Minis as a donor for an EV conversion!
PS – the comment verification code isn’t coming up very well. Most of the time, nothing comes up, making it impossible to comment.
- Jon
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:31 am
Kleiner Perkins is also backing EESTOR. Doesn’t their backing this as well suggest that, at a minimum, they are less than fully confident that EESTOR can deliver?
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
On the contrary, EEStor could represent a future-generation battery storage for the North American version of the Think car. Think already has three battery technologies that it uses, so it has already shown a willingness to try different things. This, of course, is just speculation. But I wouldn’t read into this joint venture with Think as something that undermines confidence in EEStor. Another issue, one I’ve been grappling with, is even if the EEStor technology works I think it may be a couple of years at least before it goes through proper safety tests and certification. ZENN seems to suggest this won’t be a roadblock, but I’m not convinced.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:44 am
Sure, I’m all for group buying. Sign me up.
April 24th, 2008 at 2:12 am
- 2004 – Zenn has exclusive rights to eestor right for honda size and below
- 2005 Keliner Perkins VC for eestor, 3 million
- Jan 2008 – Lockheed martin announcement of eestor agreement.
- March 28 2008 – Zenn announces eestor power cityZenn crash tested highway EV by end of 2009
- April 8th 2008 – 10 days later Keliner Perkins announces investment in Think City crash tested EV late 2009.
- Think Ox – matches Zenn specs top speed 80 mph, same size motor.
- Think city/cityZenn humm see anything common here?
- EEstor says production version for Zenn ready in 2008 for Production release late 2009.
Kind of funny ha?