Th!nk bankruptcy/bailout drama continues in Norway
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Th!nk City
Been following the story of Norwegian electric carmaker Th!nk? In the past week, the company has gone from EV poster child to potentially bankrupt. The Norwegian government did not step in to help, and then the one of Th!nk's largest investors, Stein Erik Hagen, tried a sort of double or nothing plan. To keep current on this news, we've had the help of AutoblogGreen reader Leif E., who has been translating Norwegian news items for us. He now has another update on the evolving tale. The short version is that a well-known eco-friendly Th!nk investor, Peter Stordalen, didn't bite on the double down idea and the government is being a bit misleading in its reasons for denying Th!nk any help right now. Instead, the Minister of Trade is urging Th!nk to ask the non-political group Innovation Norway for money once the calendar rolls over to 2009. As Leif wrote in to AutoblogGreen, "out of fear of some political ramifications down the road, [the politicians] choose to delay action so the non-political branches could do the heavy lifting for them." Read all of Leif's email after the jump.
Thanks again to Leif E. for the help!
Gallery: Geneva 2008: Th!nk Ox and City
Email from Leif (edited):
Since last night there have been two interesting developments. Peter Stordalen, the other high-profile investor in Th!nk, has stated that "Hagen does not need my help" and that he will "not invest further." From a personal point of view, I think the development is rather strange since Stordalen is the most high-profile environmentalist/rich guy we have, with countless environmental adventures on his record. Like this one, where he chained himself (or linked as the translation goes :P) to the Sellafield Nuclear plant in protest, or this one, where he funded a protest campaign in the last elections against politians who favored dumping toxins accumulated over the years in the shipping bay area on Oslo, just a few miles down the Oslo fjord. The flyer reads on the top: These people will dump toxins in the Oslo fjord. And the bottom: Vote them out! In short, if there are any environmental concerns out there getting a lot of attention - and Stordalen has the time - he has always been likely to pop up at the scene.
Stordalens reply to Hagens "double or nothing plan" as you called it can be found here.
So either is our leaders are poorly informed, or they are misleading the public with the notion of that the Buddy can be looked upon as a car even if it isn't.
And then we have the government. I was kind of puzzled when the government stated that it would be unfair for them to support Think when there are two other companies in Norway producing electric cars. That is a statement with non-facts since the two other companies do not make cars, but rather 4-wheel motorcycles. For example, the Buddy is worlds apart from the Think City in terms of range, security and practical use and is not classified as a car by the car/road authorities, but as a motorcycle. So either is our leaders are poorly informed, or they are misleading the public with the notion of that the Buddy can be looked upon as a car even if it isn't. The result being that they don't have to make any tough decisions. Today, the Minister of Trade said that the government has beefed up Innovation Norway for the next year with an extra 150 million dollars, making their operating budget for their next year 410 million dollars. Innovation Norway is a nonpolitical arm of the state whose main focus is to give loans and funding for innovative start ups, preferably in small districts. I would argue that Think is pretty innovative and they are also located in a small district. The minister is urging Think to apply for a loan after New Year's.
So, out of the 410 million Innovation Norway can spend the next year, Think will probably ask for 30. A lot of the media is already treating this as a sure thing. If this where to go through, I will have a laugh at the expense of our elected officials. Basically, you then have the story of the government wanting to help, but, out of fear of some political ramifications down the road, they choose to delay action so the non-political branches could do the heavy lifting for them =)
An article about the possible rescue from Innovation Norway from NRK (Norwegian "State" Broadcasting), the biggest television network is here (the article makes a mistake in translating our currency, the Crown (Krone) into Dollars).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BasementDave 5:46PM (12/17/2008)
I received an email today from an electric car yahoo group I subscribe to. In the email the writer states how he wishes there was something he could do to help Think.
His suggestion - and I think a great one, is to raise funds as President-elect Obama and Ron Paul did. This would be accomplished by setting up a website whereby persons could contribute small amounts of money that would be pooled together and given to Think. A kind of Kiva.org funding campaign if you will. :) His thought, as there would be many stipulations/gov't regulations in this is that a company such as Google would have the ability to set it up and administer it.
I for one would be happy to contribute a small amount myself as I believe Think is certainly worthy of our help. Someone with connections to Think reading this - please pass along the idea.
Reply
Leif Richard 2:01PM (12/29/2008)
Your thoughts has been forwarded to Think. But these things take time so why wait? Join us at Electric Aid and donate to "Operation Think" The operation does not have the kiva.org capacity of paying your amount back but every donor get a co-operative based "one-vote-each" in deciding where the paybacks should be spent in the future =) I´m available under the name "Richard" at the community.
http://electricaid.ning.com/
gorr 5:51PM (12/17/2008)
All of these international dramas because since 4 years i decided to shop in internet blogs for a car that don't exist yet. They offered and builded all king of silly cars with past or actual parts and technologies. At least the idea of shopping through automotive blogs instead of reading ads and reports in official newspaper is gone and people shop more and more like me and try to order the best they can envision. One remaining flop is that this site is tied-up to tesla and paypal and filter-out any different alternative to cheap and limp batteries. Batteries are past technology and people from this site having poor engineering knowledge opted to the simplest of solution to pretend having build something great. One millions have build battery car and not a single one except maybe the toyota rav4 is worth driving and owning. This site have to decide if it become a car site or a tesla retail outlet.
If i remember i said before that i will shop in blogs, so keep it that way and battery nightmare will end in a couple of days.
Reply
SimonK 2:05PM (12/18/2008)
Crazy... and this will be cited as yet more proof that Joe public/plumber/whatever doesn't want an electric car. Th!nk's business model was absolute rubbish, that's why they were doomed.
I went to the Geneva show this year, and notwithstanding the shut-out they had (on their own in a remote place outside) they just didn't get it. I walked in and said I wanted to buy one. "Er, where do you live?". Northern Italy, I replied. "We don't sell them there." So I said, no problem, you're going to sell them in London, I'll come there and buy it. "Er, can't". So, I said, I'll come now, with the (totally excessive) 40,000eur you are asking to Norway and buy one. "Er, you better talk to someone else... here's a colleague, you can ask them".
Bottom line is they all looked like they were going down the can, then. There were a bunch of execs huddle in a tent looking like they were really really important. Me and Andrichrose were the only two visitors in the tent for like 20mins! (The BMW stand was heavy with pensive 40 somethings, however). We told them, your model for purchase (of the vehicle) and lease (of the battery) is bound to fail - change it. Do something. Start selling.
Look at it this way: who'd buy a two seater steel frame car weighing 1350kg from a company about to go bankrupt a second time. Especially when they lease you the core part (which was the MesDea battery anyway... nice idea but not convinced personally it is the way to go). They had a window, it's probably closed and now it is finito - you can buy a converted Smart for half what they're asking so now the car cartel got what they wanted: Th!nk still born-again. They shut them out in Geneva, didn't let them demo the cars, it rained and everyone stayed inside gawking at white "green" BMWs.
Reply