Nordic Electric-Car Maker (Think) Goes Bankrupt

[phantom power]

February 28,2006 | OSLO, Norway -- Think Nordic AS, the electric-car maker once owned by Ford, was declared bankrupt Tuesday after failing to meet wage and other payment obligations.

(...)

The company had been owned by Ford Motor Co. until late 2002, when Ford lost faith in battery-powered cars as a way of reducing pollution.

Under Ford, hundreds of the tiny, rounded, two-seat Think cars had been imported to the United States for a three-year test. About 300 were returned to Norway in 2004.

(...)

Despite efforts to develop new models and an 11 million kroner ($1.6 million) grant from the Norwegian Research Council in May, Think Nordic suffered chronic economic problems and was never able to resume full production. About 1,000 of the cars were made.

http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8G28JFO1.html

[benburch]

1. A Damned Shame.

We need a stored energy car for use in cities where their limited range and speed does not matter at all.

[megatherium]

2. A real shame. I still expect battery-electric vehicles to win the

alternative fuel race though. I gather there's been quite a bit of progress on batteries (more capacity, more charge/discharge cycles, less expensive). Soon hopefully we'll see plug-in hybrids. Within 5 years I'll bet.

[benburch]

3. Actually, I would bet on flywheels.

MANY fewer toxic bits to dispose of.

[megatherium]

4. Where are flywheels now? Are they close to storing the kind of energy

needed to power a car a reasonable distance (e.g., 100 miles at freeway speeds)?

[Dead_Parrot]

6. Yes, but:

You really don't want to be around a high capacity flywheel with a broken bearing. They tend to go bang: Slight safety problem if you smack into a wall...

[benburch]

7. They have been designed to be adequately strong and armored.

And a tank of gasoline isn't very safe, either...

[Dead_Parrot]

8. True about the gas tank, but...

...but even an exploding gas tank doesn't sent out chunks of carbon composite the size of your head at mach 2. Modern flywheels aren't buried several metres underground to stop mice nibbling at the wires...

And whilst you can slap lots of armour on them, you then have to accelerate the armour as well, so you need a bigger flywheel, so you need thicker armour, so... you see where that goes.

I'm not saying it's unsolvable, just explaining why we're not doing it at the moment. :)

[Dead_Parrot]

5. Who'd have thunk

That this manufacturer



lasted longer than this one?



:evilgrin:

[dcfirefighter]

9. What people want, vs. what people have to pay

People can use gas & oil while making the other 6.6 billion people on the planet pay for their emissions.

The true cost of gasoline, depending on who you ask, is $5-$12/gallon.

Our entire system of property rights and taxation favors endeavors that are labor-efficient, rather than 'land' efficient, with 'land' being natural wealth such as land, atmosphere, or oil. As such, land innefficient car culture is favored over land efficient transit.