The Think City Electric Car

http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/29/electric-vehicle-finland-technology-ecotech-think-city.html

Transportation
Inside The Think City Electric Car
Jim Motavalli, 03.30.10, 06:00 AM EDT
On the assembly line and behind the wheel of the plucky Think City.
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Turku, Finland -- I have gone to the four corners of the earth to drive electric cars, so it's not surprising that I find myself in far-off Finland. Nestled in the pine forests is a sleeper of a company called Valmet Automotive that, in addition to assembling high-end Porsches, also produces a tiny electric car called the Think City--designed by a company called Think of Oslo, Norway. The Think City will soon be on American roads.

The two-seater is a cheerful little slice of eco-friendly Scandinavian design, with fully recyclable plastic body panels and a Zebra battery pack (it will use a battery pack from EnerDel, a unit of Ener1 ( HEV - news - people ), for the American market). Finnish-made cars will arrive in the U.S. by the end of the year, but in addition Think has signed a deal to build Citys in economically challenged Elkhart, Ind., once the "RV Capital of the World." With incentives, you'll be able to buy a City for about $30,000. You can make that $25,000 if you live in California.
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The process on the Think City assembly line fits the Finnish temperament; it is slow, exacting and completely non-mechanized. The only robot in sight was installing windshields in the Porsche ( PSEPF.PK - news - people ) Boxsters and Caymans. The lab-coated workers put the cars together with hand tools, then tested every component.

Think Chief Executive Richard Canny said he will roll out an all-new Think City in 2012, but it won't be moving upscale. Think is concentrating on the same urban audience that is the target of BMW's Project i. The car is highly maneuverable, and Think says it operates for 2 cents a mile.

I drove the Think City around the port city of Turku, and aside from a minor brake problem (a fuse popped), it felt fully ready for the market. A Think City car I drove in Detroit had heavy steering, but that has been addressed with nicely balanced power steering that will be in all the cars sold in the U.S. The Citys also get slightly elevated power and 70-75 mph cruising on the highway.
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You can now buy the Think City in the car's home country of Norway (still the best market, because of really great incentives there), Austria, Holland, Spain and Switzerland. It's also heading to France and Belgium. Think technology is also in a neat program in Japan, installed in Mazda2s that fast-charge at a grocery chain.