Th!nk expanding their battery options
Norwegian electric vehicle manufacturer Th!nk got some attention last spring when they announced a deal to buy lithium ion battery packs from Tesla Motors. It's now being reported that Th!nk is investigating other options for energy storage. They have apparently struck a deal with EnerDel for a supply of batteries and they are talking to A123 as well. Porsche is also helping out the Norwegians with quality assurance and logistics issues as they attempt to begin customer deliveries by March of 2008.
[Source: blog.A6R.com, thanks to Audun for the tip]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
AES 3:54PM (10/07/2007)
Is Th!nk looking for different suppliers to help meet demand? Or was the Tesla deal hammered out because it was the best available solution at the moment, and they're now shopping around for something better?
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Audun Vaaler 4:25PM (10/07/2007)
The Norwegian articles indicate that Th!nk did it to meet demand and become less dependent on just one or two battery suppliers.
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Tony Belding 6:20PM (10/07/2007)
From what I have gathered. . . The recently announced delay of the Tesla Roadster also led to a delay in delivering ESS units to Think. I'm guessing that Tesla were unwilling to start up the ESS production line solely to meet Think's needs, as it would not be economical. As a result Think were forced to delay their own product plans.
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GoodCheer 10:01PM (10/07/2007)
Tony: "I'm guessing that Tesla were unwilling to start up the ESS production line solely to meet Think's needs, as it would not be economical."
Does that make sense? Aren't the projected sales number for Th!nk significantly greater than those for the Roadster? I would also think that the 'production line' for the Th!nk battery would be largely seperate from that for the Roadster battery, since (I believe) the Th!nk isn't getting anything like the 52kWh the Tesla is.
Maybe the delay at Tesla is due to battery packaging or management issues, so the technology has been deemed unready for either application. (I hope that whatever it is, it can be resolved quickly and cheaply).
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