Comments on: Capsule Review: Th!nk EV

By: Martin Schwoerer

Martin Schwoerer — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:43:19 +0000

Greg, Venator, thanks for asking. It takes two to three days to re-heat the battery.

More on the Zebra in my upcoming next review.

But since you ask, here are some quick pros and cons.

LiIon:
+ high energy density
+ low standbye discharge
+ billions being invested to improve it
- expensive
- safety still an issue due to chemical instability
- questions of scalability caused by possible lithium shortages
- lethality = difficult to recycle
- difficult in cold climate areas
- long-term reliability questions

Sodium:
+ second-highest energy density of all commercial battery types
+ no scarcity of materials
+ reliability
+ recyclability
+ low price (around €6k for the system in the Think)
+ problem-free in cold climate zones
+ already implemented in several commercial applications
- needs to be kept hot
- trickle consumption of about 100w/h
- requires days to re-heat if taken off grid
- little investment by major companies; less potential for improvement

By: venator

venator — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:27:26 +0000

According to the Th!nk website, the car is/was available with another battery system that does not have the aforementioned disadvantages, but has a lesser range. The sodium battery system was researched by Ford in the 1990s. Obviously its disadvantages are systemic. However, it would work well in a municipal fleet (parking enforcement, etc), utilities (meter reader, etc), or mail delivery role.
Greg Locock, I was wondering about that meself, but I have not been able to find an answer yet.

By: Greg Locock

Greg Locock — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:37:18 +0000

Can you revive the battery after it has bricked?

By: MadHungarian

MadHungarian — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:53:28 +0000

I see some problems with that sodium battery setup. Let’s say I am going away for a week. I can’t drive my Think to the airport and leave it in long term parking; it will be dead when I get back. So I will leave the car at home and hook it up to some form of trickle charger, using energy even though I’m not driving. Then I will hop into a taxicab which is probably gas or diesel engined, emitting carbon. Doesn’t make sense.

By: venator

venator — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:57:45 +0000

Tesla, Fisker, Chevy Volt take notice! This is what an electric car should be. A limited range second car that is good at its intended purpose makes more sense to me as an electric car than a 300hp sports car or a sports-luxury sedan or something that tries to be everything for everybody.

By: t-truck

t-truck — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:19:52 +0000

Short vehicles with choppy ride, build for a narrow niche market will never sell right?

Mark as evidence to the contrary Jeep Wrangler. Sure it rides like crap, but does well off-road where it is designed to perform. It also portrays an image that many buyers like, sporty, outdoors, that sort of stuff.

Same with the Think, it is small, light and short so it will never have a fabulous ride, but sounds like it might be the first car to fill a screamingly open niche, EV that actually works and is a viable option for environmentally conscious city dwellers or people with short commute.

By: charly

charly — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:08:59 +0000

Crackers: This car is targeted at the European market with it’s high taxes on gas and cars and high tolls. An extreme example would be London where it wouldn’t pay toll and use cheap electricity in stead of gas. It probably makes economic sense to buy this car instead of a car that cost $10k less

By: guyincognito

guyincognito — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:19:56 +0000

Sounds like a major improvement over the original Think City. I used to drive one aroud Dearborn which was quite fun in that near death experience kind of way. That car felt like a Fisher Price kiddie car hopped up to go 60 mph. Still, I think electric city cars make alot of sense. If the progress continues apace at Think they may do well.

By: crackers

crackers — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:29:47 +0000

I could tolerate all those shortcomings if the price was right. At $10K out-the-door, this would be a useful second car. At prices anywhere near the SMART, I wouldn’t touch it.

By: Paul Niedermeyer

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:12:37 +0000

Martin, Thanks for the write-up. Having a fondness for (at least the idea of) EVs, the Think always struck me as one of the best compromise solutions, being designed specifically for both urban and (limited) commuting use. Too bad about the ride. Perhaps if Ford had kept it, their excellent chassis folks could have done something about that. And the sodium battery will likely be replaced with Li-ion cells soon.