Ford Think Electric Car

The Ford Think Electric Car is already about a decade old and gone.

At the turn of the century/millennium Ford partnered with the Norwegian Company Th!ink to sell a Neighborhood Electric Car. They formed a joint venture. The partner Think Norway is building Electric EV Cars since the beginning of the 1990s.

But the venture didn't go well. There are rumours that the Norwegian and American teams never cooperated like one team and that the Norwegians never understood the American customer's taste.

But the deathblow to this project was actually the price - even though they tried to use cheap batteries.

The concept of Neighborhood cars demanded a cost of production of about $3.000. Then it could have been marketed for something like $4.000 with a nice margin. That at least was the plan

But the the costs of production exploded to 9.000, so that the $10.000 price tag was inevitable... much too much for a neighborhood car with no comfort and low radius...

In 2003 Ford reorganized after a Ford family member took the helm of the company again, and sold the venture to a Swiss company called Kamkorp. This company is the owner of Think Norway.

But perhaps there is still a future for the Th!nk. In 2008 the investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers invested into the company to restart its North American launch...

These are also invested in companies like Bloom Energy...oh, and they were one of the first investors in... ... yes, Google!

So they know about new technologies...

But now the price tag is in the low $30.000 ... hmmm...

Seen any lately in your hood?

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