Think announces plan for US electric car plant

Norwegian electric car manufacturer Think appears to have shrugged off its recent financial difficulties, last week announcing plans to open a major new production facility in the US.

Late last year the company announced it had halted production at its plant in Norway as a result of cashflow problems, and was looking for an injection of fresh capital. However, in early January the company announced that it had secured 40m Norwegian Kroner (£4.2m) from a number of lenders and reinstated staff who had been temporarily laid off.

Now the firm is again targeting expansion, announcing that it is in talks with eight US states, including Michigan, about opening a new production facility.

The company said the new plant would initially employ 350 people and produce 16,000 cars a year, but would scale up to 900 staff and 60,000 cars a year over time.

"The US is quickly overtaking Europe as an attractive market for EVs [electric vehicles] and is an ideal location to engineer and build EVs," said Think chief executive Richard Canny. "We see ourselves playing a small but potentially growing role in re-inventing the US auto industry by bringing back new manufacturing jobs to the US to replace internal combustion engine vehicles that are expensive to operate and maintain with clean, efficient electric vehicles."

The company said it would join other electric car manufacturers, such as Tesla and Fisker Automotive, in applying for low-interest loans from the US Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing programme to help fund the new plant.

It added that it hoped to begin production of its THI!NK city model at the new facility from next year.

Think said it is also in talks with battery makers Ener1 and A123, which are already under contract to supply the company with Lithium-ion batteries capable of providing 112 miles of range on a single charge, about supplying the new plant.

"We are seeing a new system of suppliers and producers taking shape in this country to create a new high-tech manufacturing base," said Charles Gassenheimer, chief executive of Ener1. "Having an important partner such as Think here will help us continue to push the technology and develop this new industry even more quickly."