Th!nk City Monaco Edition
One of the things happening during the EVER Salon of Green Cars in Monaco is a celebration at the "Rallye de Monte Carlo des Vehicules à énergie alternative" (Rally of Montecarlo for alternative energy vehicles) during the event.
Th!nk decided that, since they're going to sell their new City car in France in a few months (via web!), it'd be a good idea to add some fancy stickers that recall the Mini Cooper from the '60s to the display model. The Th!nk car will be on sale in France for about 25,000 € but the batteries will be leased at a good price (according to Th!nk). The car is expected to have a range of 180 km (120 miles) and a maximum speed of 105 km/h (70 mph).
[Source: Leblogauto]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tormod Henne 8:25AM (4/01/2008)
So it is true, a BEV CAN be cool.
Here in Norway a Th!nk special edition was presented today as the new super-police car, claimed to be capable of 0-60 mph in 3.9 secs and a top speed of 220 km/h.
http://www.adressa.no/nyheter/trondheim/article1056978.ece
(Sorry, norwegian only)
Wish it was true (Check the date :-)))
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kert 12:38PM (4/01/2008)
Hey, a norweigian here ! While you were stopping by, can you key us in on new developments with Kewet as well ? Elbilnorge.no has their blog but my runes skillz are not nearly enough to chew through.
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jeffzekas 3:39PM (4/01/2008)
Awesome! Come on, Ford! Bring the Think to America! The oil is running out!
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Tormod Henne 5:11PM (4/01/2008)
Hi Kert
Yes I could, my Norwegian is in top shape :-)
But an easier approach is if you look down the left margin (brown colored coloumn) of the web page you will find an entry called English Please. Check it out and if there are still things that is found in norwegian only, let me know.. I'll check back ;-)
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kert 5:45PM (4/01/2008)
well, the "english please" page is static and has been staying the same for the last few years ( yes i have been checking )
But progress on manufacturing, how many are on the streets ? Are they selling outside Norway ? Whats the public interest ? Any plans on upgrading the batteries to lithium-phosphate or somesuch ? What are the prices ? A new model coming ? I see theres a new blog entry "100 000" km with Kewet, i assume thats with the old model ?
In fact i'd like to read the entire blog page.. but an up to date article would be good enough.
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Kevin Nugent 7:09PM (4/01/2008)
The cars specs are not to bad . The only problem that i have is the top speed of 70mph :( . Here in new york the posted speed limit is 55 but who really follwos that ridiculous 55 mph rule . Going by the 85 per5centile rule most drivers drive at a respectable 75-80 mph . So me driving on the lie at 70 mph would limit me to the moderate middle lane rather than be in the fast third lane.
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Andrew 8:29AM (4/02/2008)
Hey Kert,
the Kewet is not exactly popular in terms of volume. But from what I have read in the news they have a hard time producing enough to cover the demand. Electric cars have lots of privileges on Norwegian roads. They pay no tolls and they can use the commuter lane. If you drive on the congested roads into Oslo during rush time it would be a real blessing to drive a Kewet.
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Tormod Henne 3:43AM (6/03/2008)
Finally checked back to this post, here are some reference data:
Progress on manufacturing, how many are on the streets ? tot 1667 BEV per 080101 133 Buddys made in 06
Are they selling outside Norway ? No
Whats the public interest ? Can't make enough cars.
Any plans on upgrading the batteries to lithium-phosphate or somesuch ? No known plans
What are the prices ? NOK139.000 $27.500 New Batttery pack NOK19.000+ VAT = $3725 + VAT
A new model coming ? No known plans
Here are some more data from the norwegian text:
Prices: NOK139.000/ $27.500
New Batttery pack (lead-acid): NOK19.000+ VAT = $3725 + VAT. Expected life time up to 5 years depending on driving style.
Durability: One very happy owner has logged 100.000 km/60.000 miles. He has not purchased one drop of gasoline for 8 years!
Numbers made: 133 in -06.
I don't have breakout data for 07 but a a total of 315 new BEVs were purchased in Norway in 07 whereof Buddy probably is more than half, bringing the total number of BEVs to 1667 per 080101
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Lori Gordon 6:25PM (12/10/2008)
Tormod? SDSM&T?
Tormod 3:30AM (12/11/2008)
Sure Lori, what fun to hear a word :-) Send an sms to 004741216123 then we can swap mail addresses as they don't want those on the forum here.