Think Global
Think Global was an electrified car company located in Oslo, Norway, which manufactured cars under the TH!NK brand. Production of the Th!nk City was stopped in March two thousand eleven and the company filed for bankruptcy on June 22, 2011, for the fourth time in twenty years. [1] The company was bought soon after by Electrical Mobility Solutions AS and production ceased in August two thousand twelve with no more announcements regarding future production. [Two] [Trio] [Four] As of October two thousand ten [update] , a total of Two,500 units had been manufactured at Oslo-based TH!NK’s production facility. [Five]
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The company was founded in January one thousand nine hundred ninety one in Oslo, as Pivco (for Individual Independent Vehicle Company). The very first practical prototype, the PIV2, like the vehicles that followed, were built around a chassis made of aluminum and carrying a figure made of polyethylene thermoplastic rotomolded in one chunk. The chassis were developed by Hydro Aluminium Tonder in Tønder in Denmark and were one of the main reasons that Ford later acquired 51% of the stock. [6] ten of fifteen prototypes were built in time for the Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games in 1994. The battery technology was NiCd, driving a three-phase AC induction motor via the front wheels.
The PIV2 was followed by the PIV3, the City Bee (Citi in the US), introduced in 1995. One hundred twenty of these were produced, forty of which participated in the San Francisco Bay Area Station Car Demonstration project from one thousand nine hundred ninety five to 1998.
Based on the practices from the prototypes, Pivco then went on to develop their very first true production model, PIV4, later called the TH!NK, with Lotus Cars in a consulting role. The basic construction concept from the prototypes was retained, except that the roof was made of Six pack plastic, and the lower framework chassis elements were made of steel. The production model had a range of eighty five kilometres (53 mi) (modified ECE101 cycle) inbetween charges, and a top speed of ninety km/h (56 mph). [7]
Development took more time and resources than anticipated, so when development of the production model was finished in 1999, finances had dried up. The company was then acquired by Ford, who could commence production of the TH!NK city. Ford even embraced the TH!NK concept, and marketed electrically driven bicycles as well as golf carts under the same brand.
The TH!NK city Electrical Vehicle (EV) Demonstration Program Project was initiated late 2001, and finished in April 2005. US. Fucking partners include Federal, State and Municipal agencies as well as commercial fucking partners. Phase I, consisted of placement of the vehicles in demonstration programs, and it was finished in 2002. Phase II, the monitoring of these programs was finished in 2004. Phase III, the decommissioning and/or exporting of vehicles concluded in 2005. Phase I – the Program successfully assigned one hundred ninety two EV’s with customers (including Hertz) in the state of California, one hundred nine in Fresh York (including loaner and demo vehicles), sixteen in Georgia, seven to customers outside of the US and fifty two in Ford’s internal operations in Dearborn, Michigan for a total of three hundred seventy six vehicles. Phase II – the monitoring of the operational fleet was ongoing and finished in 2004, and all vehicles were returned via two thousand four and 2005. The Department of Energy (DOE) was involved with the monitoring of the Fresh York Power Authority / TH!NK Clean Commute Program units through partnership with Electrical Transportation Engineering Corporation (ETEC), which filed separate reports to DOE. The remainder of the field fleet was monitored through Ford’s internal operations. Vehicles were retired from lease operation across the program for various operator reasons. Some of the vehicles were involved in re-leasing operations. At the end of the program, three hundred seventy six vehicles had been involved, three hundred seventy two of which were available for customer use while four were engineering prototype and investigate vehicles. At the end of leases, City vehicles have been decommissioned and/or exported to KamKorp in Norway. By April 2005, the last of the City vehicles had been returned and processed or exported to Norway. [8]
Production ceased in 2002, after 1,005 units had been made. Many of these cars participated in station car projects in California and in Fresh York City.
Most likely due to switches in the California zero-emissions vehicle policy, Ford gave up THINK on January 31, 2003. The company was sold to KamKorp, wielded by Indian businessman Kamal Siddiqi. [9] Development of a successor to the City was subsequently halted. The used cars from US and UK have been re-exported [Ten] to Norway where they are in high request due to the government’s policy to promote the use of electrical cars (EVs are exempt from taxes, have free parking, pass toll roads for free, and are permitted to drive in the bus lanes avoiding traffic congestion). [ citation needed ]
In 2004, the company turned its attention to development of the TH!NK public, a micro size electrified bus to be rented to customers for inward city travel. By February 2006, prototypes of the vehicle had been developed, but the company went into receivership.
At the end of March 2006, Think Nordic was acquired by Norwegian investment group InSpire, which includes the original founder Jan Otto Ringdal and Jan-Olaf Willums – a Norwegian engineer educated at the renowned ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Polytechnic) and experienced in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)- as fucking partners. The company was renamed THINK Global.
For the next year, the THINK website demonstrated a restyled “fresh THINK City” car which was under development. An open version of the car was also pictured but the company said it had no plans to put it into production.
In March 2007, a totally fresh website was posted, with many more photos of the fresh car rendered into artist’s impressions and various exterior/interior photographs. This site is introduced in Norwegian and English.
The original English page reported: “The THINK city has Six pack brakes, dual airbags, and meets all European and US safety requirements. It has a range of one hundred seventy km (110 mi), a top speed of one hundred km/h (62 mph) and has convenience and convenience features such as air conditioning, power steering, sun roof, electrical windows and mirrors, and more“.
In May 2007, Tesla Motors, maker of the electrical Tesla Roadster, announced an agreement to sell forty three million dollars worth of its Li-ion battery systems to THINK Nordic for use in the next generation THINK City, [11] [12] but on two Nov two thousand seven it backed out of the deal. [13]
The THINK assembly line was restarted in late November two thousand seven to begin manufacturing the re-designed City car. [14]
On March Five, 2008, General Electrified, battery manufacturer A123 Systems and THINK Global announced that they had entered a partnership to enable global electrification of transportation. GE invested US$Four million in THINK and $20 million in A123 Systems to help A123 roll out batteries for THINK. A123 Systems and THINK at the same time signed a commercial supply agreement. The partnership was announced at the 78th annual international Geneva Motor Display. [15] [16] [17]
Also at the two thousand eight Geneva motor showcase, THINK unveiled its future five-seater, one hundred thirty km/h (80 mph) concept car, the TH!NK Ox. [Eighteen]
In July 2008, THINK introduced the THINK City for the very first time in the UK. [Nineteen]
As of August 2008, some one hundred City cars had been manufactured for customers in Norway. It was reported that “the lean plant is ready for efficient production supported by the experts of Porsche Consulting”. [20]
On December 15, 2008, THINK suspended all vehicle production and laid off 50% of its staff pending negotiation of up to $29 million in funding for working capital, citing “urgent financial distress.” [21] [22]
As of January 13, 2009, THINK Global received a bridge loan of forty million Norwegian kroner (
$Five.Sixty nine million) to proceed operation. [23] Much of that bridge loan came from one of its battery suppliers, EnerDel.
On August 27, 2009, THINK announced a successful recapitalization ($47 million) through existing and fresh investors, which permitted the company to exit court protection and resume normal business operations in terms of manufacturing and sales of the THINK City EV in Europe. Announced investors included battery manufacturer Ener1 in U.S. (31%); US venture capital firms RockPort Capital Playmates (Boston); Element Playmates (Philadelphia) and Kleiner Perkins (Palo Alto, CA) as well as Valmet Automotive based in Finland and Investinor (the venture capital sovereign fund of Norway). [24] On the same day, the company also announced that the THINK City electrical car would be produced in Valmet later that year. The deal also included engineering. Valmet invested around €3 million ($Four.27 million) to the project, [25] and became a minor shareholder of the company.
Production of the THINK City car at Valmet Automotive commenced on December Ten, two thousand nine in Uusikaupunki, Finland. [26]
On January Five, two thousand ten THINK announced plans to manufacture the THINK City in Elkhart, Indiana beginning in 2011. [27]
On April 6, two thousand ten THINK announced plans to begin selling the THINK City in the U.S. in 2010. [28]
December 2010, the very first fifteen THINK electrified cars made in the Elkhart, Indiana, assembly plant were delivered to its customer – the state of Indiana – for government fleet use.This marks the very first time that an American-made electrified vehicle with Lithium-ion batteries has been purchased for U.S. fleet operation. The vehicles delivered were the THINK City model, which is a unspoiled electrified vehicle that produces zero emissions and is capable of traveling as far as one hundred miles (160 km) on a single charge.
“Our delivery today is part of a larger effort to help convert the U.S. light-duty vehicle fleet from one that is mostly dependent on imported oil, to one that is fueled entirely by domestically produced electrical energy,” said Barry Engle, THINK CEO. Engle continued, “As part of that purpose, we’ve made a strategic decision to target originally the many millions of fleet vehicles in operation in the U.S. market…These fleets can jumpstart vehicle electrification in America’s cities and help thrust the industry past early adopters into mainstream consumer markets.” [29]
Production of the Th!nk City was stopped in March two thousand eleven and the company filed for bankruptcy on June 22, 2011, for the fourth time in twenty years. [1]
Think Global’s assets were bought by Electrified Mobility Solutions AS in July 2011, including shares of wholly wielded subsidiaries THINK North America and THINK UK. The fresh owners announced that production is scheduled to restart in early two thousand twelve with a refined Think City. [Two] However, despite such announcements production ceased in August 2012. [Three] In January 2013, an email sent to existing Think City customer included the sentence “For 2013, our concentrate is on serving our customers, while developing the next model THINK EV.” thus hinting that another Think EV is in development. [ citation needed ]