Think Automotive Has Halted Production As They Seek Capital... Could They Be In Trouble Without The Norwegian Government's Assistance...

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!

Think Global a Norwegian automotive company who was looking to begin selling vehicles in the United States in 2009-2010 has halted production as announced by CEO Richard Canny. Richard Canny has described the company as in "urgent financial distress". The announcement has set back the company which is considering bankruptcy if the Norwegian government does not step up to assist the ailing company.

The Think City all electric plug in type vehicle has long been anticipated and was in production when the decision to stop production lines was made recently. The company has been hit hard by the world economic crisis and it's supplier's have been increasingly been more demanding and the company has found it difficult to meet short term working capital demands.

A series of press conferences have been lined up to discuss the companies future, I will keep you posted as I have been anticipating this vehicle for quite some time now.

Enjoy Today!

That Car Guy

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EnerDel is set to hire 277 workers at Indianapolis, In plant...

EnerDel will hire hundreds at 2 sites
Lithium-ion battery deal for Think electric vehicle may return city to roots

Once a leader in producing electric cars, Indiana someday could become the center of the nation's new electric car business.
State officials raised the prospect Thursday when Indianapolis battery researcher EnerDel confirmed it will become one of the world's first companies to ramp up output of high-tech batteries for cars designed to run entirely on electricity.

EnerDel, a blend of Japanese and American engineers and Russian capital, said it will hire about 277 production workers and engineers in Indianapolis and Noblesville to make lithium-ion batteries for export to Think Global, a new car company in Norway.
If the Think cars prove reliable in Europe, the company could open an Indiana car assembly plant even as major automakers turn to EnerDel for high-volume production of the innovative batteries able to move a car 110 miles before requiring recharging.
"We aim to be a winner," Ulrik Grape, EnerDel's president and chief executive officer, told the company's nearly 100 employees at a news conference announcing the production ramp-up for Think.
In an era of costly fuel, drivers want better mileage. But no big car company ever has touted purely electric cars as a solution to the nation's fuel woes. The reason has been the limited driving range of conventional batteries.
Now, Think Global and a bevy of other small companies are trying to edge into the market with a battery capable of storing more than 10 times the electricity found in the battery of a Toyota Prius hybrid.
Think Global, backed by investors in high technology including Rockport Capital of Boston, plans to make about 10,000 electric cars a year powered by lithium-ion batteries.
Think could put a production line in the U.S. as early as 2011 to assemble electric cars, said Richard Canny, Think chief executive officer. Plans call for launching the 155-mile range Think Ox model in the United States. The Ox would be an upgraded version of Europe's Think City and would meet U.S. highway regulations.
"Our immediate goal is to ramp up production here," said Canny, in a phone interview from his office in Norway. An Australian, he earlier this year headed strategic planning at Ford Motor Co. in Michigan,
"There's no doubt we'll come to the U.S. The question is when. On one hand, we'd want to be close to where our customers are. On the other, there are good technical capabilities in the Midwest," Canny said, referring to the region's talented technical employees.
Automakers have honed gasoline engines for better mileage and also brought out hybrids that mate electric motors with smaller gas engines. But conventional batteries deterred carmakers from electric cars. Four years ago, General Motors scrapped the last of its California EV-1 electric car program, saying the 40-mile to 50-mile driving range was insufficient.
Hybrids like the Prius can run 40 to 50 miles per gallon, but still depend on gas engines and use relatively small batteries. The nickel metal hydride battery in the Prius stores about 2.6 kilowatt hours of electricity, compared with 26 kilowatt hours in EnerDel's 600-pound battery pack.
EnerDel, relying on innovative Japanese chemistry and former GM Delphi battery engineers, designed the lithium-ion battery in a quick program that has enabled the company to reach market sooner than most other battery researchers, Grape said.
Think Global tested lithium-ion batteries from more than a dozen developers and selected three suppliers: EnerDel; A123 of Watertown, Mass.; and Mes-dea of Switzerland.
By expanding capacity in Indianapolis and Noblesville, EnerDel could make 300,000 batteries a year, Grape said. Indianapolis will make the cells while Noblesville assembles the battery packs.
If the company lands new contracts, EnerDel could open a third battery plant in Indiana covering more than 300,000 square feet and employing more than 450 workers. Criteria for that plant would include access to rail, ceilings 25 feet high, good roads to withstand the heavy batteries, and proximity to engineers and production workers capable of advanced manufacturing.
State officials say if the electric car catches on in America, Indiana can become a center for production by drawing on resources of area enterprises, such as Delphi electronics in Kokomo and Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, a U.S. Navy facility southwest of Bloomington known as a leader in battery storage technology.
"Our state is perfectly positioned to do the right thing and move fast and lead this revolution," said Gov. Mitch Daniels at the news conference. Later, he noted the state would try to persuade Think to locate the vehicle assembly plant in Indiana.
In Southern Indiana, Jeffersonville now is competing with Bowling Green, Ky., to lure Integrity, a Kentucky maker of an electric car called the Zap. The Zap is considered less sophisticated than Think, which is designed to run on freeways and accelerate from a stop to 60 miles an hour within eight seconds.
It's still not clear, though, whether that big contract is close at hand for EnerDel. About a dozen automakers and major auto-parts makers now are examining versions of EnerDel's batteries, Grape said.
Despite the disarray in the New York capital markets, EnerDel would have no problem raising money to build a big Indiana plant to supply a major automaker, said Gerard Herihy, chief financial officer of Ener1, a parent of EnerDel.
"The only industry able to raise a lot of capital right now is energy and solar. We're in the same area," he said.
Ener1 is the New York-based company financed in part by Russian timber mogul Boris Zingarevich.
Ener1 formed EnerDel in a 2004 joint venture with Michigan-based auto-parts maker Delphi and Japanese electronics company Itochu.
Ener1 this summer acquired bankrupt Delphi's share in EnerDel. EnerDel is housed in the Indianapolis plant that Delphi built for battery production near 86th Street and I-69.
Delphi's origins trace to Delco and Remy, companies with extensive Indiana ties that also had a large hand years ago in putting the first electrical systems in automobiles.
Early in the 20th century, before the gas engine displaced the electric car, historians say, Indiana was home to an array of electric car companies. These included Mills Electric of Ligonier, National Automobile & Electric of Indianapolis, Studebaker Electric of South Bend, Warren Electric of Indianapolis and Waverly Electric of Indianapolis.

*Courtesy Indianapolis Star reporter Ted Evanoff

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EnerDel will produce lithium-ion batteries for the THINK Car...

Indy to power electric car.

Indianapolis, Indiana plant expanding to produce lithium-ion batteries

EnerDel plans to expand its Indianapolis plant by the end of the year to start commercial production of 600-pound lithium-ion battery packs that will power a Norwegian-made all-electric car.
"We're planning to expand rapidly. We're scaling up to some big numbers," said Charles Gassenheimer, chairman and chief executive of Ener1, the Florida-based parent of the battery maker.

The batteries will go into the Think car, a two-seater produced in Norway that aims at becoming the first commercially available electric car.
Think wants to gear up to produce 10,000 cars a year in 2009, Gassenheimer said, with EnerDel supplying the batteries.
EnerDel plans a 49,000-square-foot expansion and remodeling of its plant at 8740 Hague Road, where batteries are produced, according to a state-filed building permit. Currently EnerDel does battery research at the plant and produces limited numbers of lithium-ion batteries for testing and development in electric cars and gas-electric hybrid vehicles.
"This is one of the crucial steps" in EnerDel's history, Gassenheimer said of the expansion. "The next six months are crucial. We want to make sure we execute on the production side."
EnerDel employs about 100 people at the plant and could hire 150 more in the next 18 months, said spokeswoman Rachel Carroll. Many would be engineering jobs, she said.
EnerDel has been talking to the state about economic incentives, such as property tax abatement, for the project. An announcement about incentives could come soon.
Think was an electric car project of Ford Motor Co. until Ford sold it in 2003. Norwegian investors bought Think in 2006. Think cars with the EnerDel battery are expected to be sold first in Europe in late 2008 or early 2009, with U.S. sales following.
The auto industry needs a light, powerful battery to make the electric car a viable alternative to the gasolinepowered car. The lithium-ion battery appears to be the best solution, but energy experts say kinks must be worked out, including weight and heat production problems.
EnerDel, formed in 2004, is staking its future on the lithium-ion battery, which is commonly found in laptops and cell phones. It claims to have a battery that runs cool and doesn't short out or explode even if punctured. Hybrid vehicles currently use nickel metal hydride battery packs.
EnerDel is one of a handful of battery makers that have received millions of dollars in funding from the three major U.S. automakers through the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium. It also has received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy.
EnerDel's hybrid battery, which is the size of a conventional car lead battery, is not as far along in development as the much larger battery for all-electric cars.
When tested in the Toyota Prius, the hybrid battery achieved 77 miles per gallon, Gassenheimer said. The nickel metal hydride battery used commercially in the Prius gets 50 to 55 mpg, he said.
Gassenheimer said EnerDel wants to sign two contracts with car makers by the end of the year to develop its hybrid battery for commercial use.
Ener1, which is publicly traded, last week received bankruptcy court approval to buy out the 20 percent stake of its EnerDel founding partner Delphi Corp. for cash and stock worth $30 million. That gives Ener1 100 percent control of EnerDel.
"They were unable to help us financially due to their bankruptcy," Gassenheimer said of Delphi.
He said Ener1 now wants to find a new partner, such as an automaker, for the battery business.
"I don't believe EnerDel's best approach is to go it alone. We need partners," he said.
EnerDel is competing with Japanese powers Panasonic and Sony and other companies to come up with better car batteries that are low-cost, efficient, high-performing and safe.
Carroll said EnerDel is committed to producing its batteries in the United States. That could give EnerDel an advantage in the U.S. marketplace. The thinking among some alternative-energy analysts is that government policymakers looking to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil wouldn't be eager to give economic incentives to a foreign battery company that would send money spent on energy out of the country.
"EnerDel is well-positioned" to find users for its batteries, said Susan Eustis, an analyst for WinterGreen Research in Lexington, Mass. Besides cars, she said, "there are just so many places where this stuff can be used: wheelchairs, scooters, robots, power tools. You'll just see a proliferation" of users if the lithium-ion battery works well.

*Courtesy Star reporter Jeff Swiatek

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