Think City might cost $49,500 (U.S.) in Holland, without leasing the battery
Click above for a gallery of the Th!nk City
A few more details about the 500 Th!nk City electric vehicles that are headed for Holland. AutoblogGreen reader Matthijs wrote in with the following:
This morning (11:00 CET) I contacted ElmoNet with some questions about the Think City. While they are concentrating on selling to companies and new government programs It seems "normal" consumers like me can also purchase the car and make test drives. I will be contacted for a test drive later today.
The news for me was that you do not have to pay a monthly battery fee and that the car needs service every 20.000 km or ones a year. They are teaming up with selected Bosch service points for the maintenance of the car. The price is €37.695,00 incl. 19% VAT (No other Dutch extra car taxes apply because it is an EV)
In Holland, it will be leasing company Mobility Service Netherlands, through its ElmoNet subsidiary, that will be distributing the cars. If Matthijs is correct, then the price to buy a Th!nk City in Holland will be roughly $49,500 U.S. We don't have any other source for this information, but we've sent an email to ElmoNet to find out more. For the U.S. launch, Th!nk North America is saying that the Th!nk City has a $20,000 price tag, but that excludes an $80-90 monthly battery rental fee. Thanks to Matthijs for the tip!
UPDATE: We got the following email from Patrick Doornbos at ElmoNet:
To answer your question:
The car will cost that amount of money. Excluding VAT the car will cost aprox. 31.000 euro including the battery pack which is estimated around 10.000 euro at this moment.
So net worth the car is priced around 21.000 euro (same as in Norway, and the lease price for the battery will be added monthly).
In Norway the EV is free for all taxes including the VAT in The Netherlands this is not so. We hope for government funding to make the car less expensive.
To stay posted you can visit our website www.elmonet.nl or email me with any questions.
Met vriendelijke groet,
Patrick Doornbos
Gallery: Th!nk City
[Source: ElmoNet]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jake 6:04PM (3/30/2009)
Wow, that's quite a bit more expensive than what I would expect it to cost. The battery pack (18kWh) isn't much bigger than the Volt's (16kWh) but the car costs more (much more if you compare the specs of the car), though I suppose you have to account for cars in Europe costing more.
And when they say "inc. 19% VAT" do they mean the 37.695,00 euros number includes the VAT or do they mean it doesn't include it. If it does include the 19% then it works out to 31676 euros for the car (or ~$42k USD), which is still more than the Volt's estimates.
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Brn 6:42PM (3/30/2009)
Anyone know if the high VAT applies to the battery lease? I claim ignorance on how that works across the pond.
matthijs 6:45AM (3/31/2009)
Hi jake,
You are correct the €37.695,00 is including 19%VAT (That is the standard VAT rate in Holland and Germany and more EU countries) but it excludes the additional taxes on cars in Holland like 43% BPM tax, Extra Co2 tax and road tax. The Dutch car prizes are accually pretty low compared to other EU countries excluded taxes. Here I made and comperison of Dutch and German car prizes and the added taxes. Look at the VW Touareg and you will understand it. Compared the Think price tag is pretty high considered it is excluded from all additional car taxes.
http://www.apteraforum.com/showpost.php?p=30087&postcount=6
matthijs 7:19AM (3/31/2009)
Hi Brn,
Well that's just it. There is no battery lease per month. And the 19% VAT is appying to all thinks you buy in Holland. It is like sales tax. 6% for food And 1% tax for food packaging.
Normally cars have allot more taxes on them. The Think only has VAT. Look for my post above for an example of all taxes on Dutch cars.
andrichrose 6:14PM (3/30/2009)
total con , you can buy the Micro - Vett ,Fiat 500 with a 22kwh lithium
battery (which you own ) for around 38,000 euro ,its a four seater and
has real chic appeal !
Also the Mitsubishi MiEV is due to be released in europe early next with
a target price of around 26000 euro including ownership of the battery
pack !
Somebody is trying to make a lot of money fast !
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MT 7:12PM (3/30/2009)
Crazy! I'll take a Tesla Model S for that money (ballpark).
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contact 11:16PM (3/30/2009)
no doubt! Tesla S is the one to watch out for in this price range ($40-70k)
jharlan 9:47PM (3/30/2009)
I never thought I would say this, but the Tesla is looking better and better. Oh well, the Think City is only 30K overpriced! Maybe the prospective buyers won't notice.......NOT!
This car is DOA @ 50K.
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jeff 12:04AM (3/31/2009)
This car is comparable to a Li-ion G-Wiz which was just priced at £15,000 in the UK. The Th!nk might be a bit of a nicer car, but not that much!
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jpm 1:39AM (3/31/2009)
This company has severe issues. Don't got pricing a rinky dink car at 50k when tesla model S is at that price.
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matthijs 6:57AM (3/31/2009)
Well I am having a test drive this Friday. You can look up the price on elmonet here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elmonet.nl%2F&sl=nl&tl=en&history_state0=
They told me on the phone that for now they are concentrating on selling this car to companies and new government programs, the city of Amsterdam is pushing EV's and there is a €10 budget on introducing EV's to the Netherlands. I don't think they have any problems selling or leasing their first 500 units. But the price tag for the consumer is high. Still I was amazed by the fact this time you can actually buy the car.
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matthijs 7:56AM (3/31/2009)
Here is a direct link to pricing and options: http://74.125.79.132/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http://www.elmonet.nl/wp-content/uploads/Prijslijst%2520TH!NK%2520city.pdf&prev=_t&usg=ALkJrhhCgc9fM-tP5pGc1nABuxprPtWSXQ
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Cedar 8:27PM (3/31/2009)
That pricing is absolutely nuts. For $8000 more you will be able to get a Tesla S.
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Don 2:14PM (5/04/2009)
>>That pricing is absolutely nuts. For $8000 more you will be able to get a Tesla S.
darius 2:10PM (3/31/2009)
Come on guys understand the price. $50k is INCLUDING 19%VAT Any other car sold will ALSO have to add the 19% VAT So you are looking at $40k Still way too much for what you get.
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marc bolier 3:42AM (4/01/2009)
Went there last monday. Drove the car, spoke with Patrick Doornbos. Nice people, smart, know what thy're doing. No other ev's for now, their the first to offer ev's in the Netherlands and government will be buying as well as leasing companies and energy companies. 500 cars they will sell this year - no doubt about it, even at 37.656 euro's. With 15 mln euro turnover the can make 0,5 tot 1 mln profit in their first year. Any other ev cpmpany can match this? Full report with video and test drive will be published on www.zerauto.nl later this week.
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Don 2:18PM (5/04/2009)
Actually, it is the Tesla S pricing that is nuts . . Tesla cannot build the S for current price.
Th!nk is getting closer, but they are not there yet. They need to move the factory to a country with much lower labor costs . . . Norwegian labor is extremely expensive. (A USA factory would be great . . . I recommend Elkhart, Indiana.) They've also got to put the car on a diet, it weighs too much. And they should trim the battery pack a bit . . . 110 mile range is a bit too much for now, 80 miles should be enough for now. And they need to negotiate a better battery price. They should be able to get Li-Ion Cells for less than $400/KWH. If they can do those things, the Th!nk City may become viable. At the price mentioned in this article, it is just not yet viable.
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Don 3:30PM (5/04/2009)
So right now, the price is a little over $40K (without the VAT). If they build it in a place with cheaper labor, reduce the size of the battery pack a little, reduce the price of the battery pack a little, they should be able to push it down to $35K or so. And then with the $7500 tax-credit, you'd be down to $27500. That is still little bit too high, but it could find a niche market at that price. Especially if they make the convertible. Once mass production begins, they can continually do refinements to push the price down (re-designs, lower battery price, increased factory efficiency, better contracts with suppliers, etc.). If they can get it down to $25K after the tax credit, it will be viable. A person with such a car would pay only about $200/year in electricity to drive 10,000 miles. That will be a huge savings in gasoline costs that will make up for the increased price. (A gas car driven 10K miles with 25 mph will cost $1200 per year to drive at $3/gallon . . . so if gas prices hit that level, a person would be saving $1000/year in gas costs . . . plus no oil changes, fewer repairs, less maintenance, etc.)
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