Green Car Advisor
China's Dongfeng Wastes No Time; Construction Begins on New EV Plant
Less than a week after announcing a five-year, $443 million program to develop and build new hybrid and battery-electric vehicles for the Chinese market, Dongfeng Motor Corp. has broken ground on a new EV plant that it says will be capable of annual production of 2,000 complete vehicles and 5,000 chassis.
The company, China's third largest motor vehicle producer, said earlier this week that it wants to produce and sell 100,000 hybrids and 50,000 battery-electric vehicles by 2015.
The new $96 million EV plant, to be located in central China, is to be dedicated to commercial vehicles, including buses and pickups, according to a report from IHS Global Insight, citing a Chinese business news report from SinoCast.
Dongfeng's EV effort is part of its overall strategy to become a leader in the sprawling country's fuel-efficient vehicles segment, and also is part of a broader national program, fostered by China's central government, to make the country the world's leader in development and production of electric-dive vehicles.
Illustration of Tesla's Sporty 2013 Model R Gives Us Something to Dream About
During a PowerPoint presentation to investors two months ago, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk showed a series of slides that included a partial image of an all-electric convertible.
The plug-in four-seater, born of the same platform as the upcoming zero-emissions Model S, may one day replace the Roadster, Tesla's screaming-fast battery-electric two-seater.
While the convertible is at least 18 months away from production - meaning that its design is no more fixed in concrete than the gusher in the Gulf - LeftLaneNews.com artist Lars Salter created an illustration of it.
Granted, he was only working off a partial and intentionally grainy image, which itself may have been an artist's rendering, but we like what Salter came up with.
The car's stance is aggressive, with a snout resembling some of the bullet-faced Jaguars of late and enormous side vents that immediately bring the second-generation Dodge Viper to mind.
The model's working name: The 2013 Tesla Model R. Like the Model S, it is expected to be offered with a choice of battery packs, the best of which will likely get an estimated 300 miles between charges.
The Model R won't be as quick as the Roadster, which can reach 60 mpg mph in 3.7 seconds, but it is expected to hit that mark in under 6 seconds. We'd love to see this car in showrooms in 2012. No doubt so would Musk.
GreenBriefs: GM's Electric Plans; NYPD Going Green; Prius PHEV Goes to School
Electric Future: General Motors will invest "heavily" in developing electric and hybrid-electric vehicles over the next two years and plans to develop awe plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV) in 2012, the automaker said in its Securities and Exchange Commission Filing for a prospective initial public offering.
GM didn't specify a make or model for the PHEV and said its Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera are its only two extended-range plug-in hybrid electric vehicles presently under development. The new PHEV will use GM's two-mode propulsion system, in which an electric motor will exclusively be used at low speeds and a combination of a combustion engine and electric power will be used to increase fuel efficiency at higher speeds.
Green Police: The New York Police Department this week started using the first 30 of the 102 Ford Fusion Hybrids it plans to add to its fleet in an effort to help cut the city's carbon footprint by almost a third within the next seven years.
NYPD, which also has 76 Nissan Altima Hybrids, is looking to replace its 3,000 Chevrolet Impalas with more fuel-efficient vehicles, the newspaper said. The Fusion Hybrid's EPA-rated fuel efficiency of 41 miles per gallon is more than double that of the Impala.
Plug-In U: Syracuse University is among the upstate New York entities that will receive Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid vehicles as part of a testing program with the Energy Department's Clean Cities Program.
Clean Communities of CNY will receive six Prius plug-in hybrids, which will also be used by Syracuse Center of Excellence and nonprofit car-sharing service CuseCar. Toyota is running a demonstration and testing project with about 150 Prius PHEVs in the U.S. and about 600 globally.
Buses Should Rise Above Traffic To Cut Congestion, Save Fuel, Says Chinese Firm
Drawing shows cars driving beneath a giant "straddling bus" that arches above road on tall stilts.
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Tired of those diesel-belching buses (or even the clean natural gas models) that jam the roads as they edge to the curb every few blocks to let passengers on and off?
A Chinese company may have an answer.
Why not buses - big ones - that rise above the road on stilts, forming a moving tunnel under which regular traffic can continue to move even when the bus is stationary? And why not, as they no longer take up road space, make them big, really big, and cover their roofs with solar cells to help the make clean electric power that runs 'em?
Shenzen Huashi Future Parking Equipment, a company in southern China, asked those questions and came up with the design for an electric bus that answers them with a big "why not?"
Think City EV Places 3rd in E-Miglia 2010 Alpine Rally, Shares Podium With Teslas
Team Move About Bosch's Think City EV climbed five Alpine passes - and used regenerative braking to recapture some of that energy on the way down - to place third in the recently completed E-Miglia 2010 rally for electric vehicles.
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You'd expect a Tesla or two to be atop the winners' podium in almost any kind of electric car race - it's among the fastest and most agile, and boasts the longest single-charge range, of the EVs on the market and unless in the hands of a particularly inept driver should be at the head of the pack.
But a Think City - designed to be driven at a more sedate pace in mostly urban settings and with a range of no more than 100 miles under the best of conditions? Well, it's no Tesla.
So Norwegian EV maker Think has won some pretty good bragging rights after team driving a Think City finished third overall in the 350-mile, four-day E-Miglia 2010 rally for electric vehicles, running a course that began in Munich, crossed the Alps and finished in the northern Italian town of Rovereto.
Heat and steep climbs are hard on electric car batteries, and it was both warm and steep in the EV rally's climb through the Alps, according to reports posted on the Rally Buzz website, which covered the event.
It's strong testimony for EVs in general that only one of the 25 entrants failed to finish the rally - which was held in stages and emphasized endurance rather than speed.
Federal-Mogul Says Piston Ring Boosts Fuel Economy, Cuts Emissions and Oil Use
Federal-Mogul Corp. today announced the availability of its two-piece patented LKZ oil ring design for direct-injection gasoline engines that the company says improves fuel economy, reduces carbon tailpipe emissions and increases the amount of time between oil changes.
The company says the oil ring - also known as piston ring, which is an open-ended ring that fits into a groove on the outer diameter of a piston in an internal combustion engine or steam engine - reduces oil consumption by up to 50 percent and friction by up to 15 percent, compared to the best conventional two-piece oil rings.
This innovation and ones like it that improve the fuel efficiency of internal combustion engines are a big deal when you consider the fact that despite all the recent talk about electric-drive vehicles, the vast majority of vehicles 10 years from now are likely to be powered by conventional petrol-powered engines.
Federal-Mogul Senior Vice President Rainer Jueckstock said in a statement today that there are "very few technologies that provide such an easily implemented improvement in fuel economy and emissions reduction as LKZ rings."
Typical piston rings apply equal pressure to the cylinder bore on the downstroke, toward the crankcase, and on the upstroke, toward the combustion chamber. The LKZ ring combines a stepped surface and taper on its contacting edge, which provides a well-defined pressure to the cylinder wall on the down-stroke and a significantly lesser effect on the upstroke, the company said.
U.S. Govt. Might Curb Purchases of Hybrids Due to Their High Costs, Official Says
Buried in a recent Federal Times article is the fact that the federal government, which recently bought more than 5,000 Ford Fusion Hybrids, paid $11,214 more for each vehicle than the nonhybrid alternative.
Because of that, federal agencies aren't likely to see another aggressive purchase of hybrid vehicles anytime soon, barring another round of stimulus funds, said Bill Toth, who heads the General Services Administration's Office of Motor Vehicle Management.
The GSA earlier this year purchased more than 5,600 hybrid vehicles, single-handedly doubling the government's inventory of hybrid vehicles, in an unprecedented effort to offload the government's least fuel-efficient cars and trucks.
The GSA received the first group of hybrids about six weeks ago, Toth told the Federal Times, and will continue to receive them through the rest of the summer. The GSA is leasing the vehicles to agencies as they trade in their older vehicles, which will be sold at auction.
Almost all of the hybrids the GSA purchased are 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrids (pictured), a mid-sized sedan that's second in class in fuel efficiency only to the Toyota Prius. The Fusion get 39 mpg in combined city and highway driving and emits 4.8 tons of carbon dioxide annually, or 2.7 tons less than the nonhybrid version.
But due to the $11,214 hybrid premium of the fuel-efficient Fusion, Toth said, he doesn't "know that we'll see the numbers we've seen in the last two years continue at that pace without some sort of infusion of capital.
"They're very expensive vehicles and when you look at meeting your mission ... and one [vehicle] is $10,000 cheaper than the other, capital's limited. It's tough to make that jump," he said.
Hybrid Claims, Premiums Slightly Higher Than Conventional Counterparts - Study
By Danny King, Contributor
Pricier repair components are likely spurring slightly higher car-insurance premiums for hybrid owners, though a surprisingly heavy foot on the part of Toyota Prius owners may also have something to do with it.
A hybrid-vehicle owner's propensity to favor car dealerships over the local mechanic for accident repairs is boosting the average cost of a car-insurance claim and may lead to higher insurance premiums for people buying alt-fuel cars such as the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf later this year, according to one report.
The average insurance claim by a hybrid owner is $182 higher - or 6.5 percent more - than the average non-hybrid claim, insurance-claim research firm and processor Mitchell International said in its third-quarter Industry Trends report. The average Honda Civic Hybrid (pictured) claim is 6.9 percent more expensive than that of gas-powered Civics, while Ford Escape Hybrid owners make claims that are on average 9 percent more than those of conventional Escapes, according to the report.
The pricier claims illustrate how hybrid owners are less likely to trust independent mechanics when it comes to properly repairing the more complex hybrid-car components, and more apt to simply get the car fixed at the dealer, especially if an insurance company is footing the bill. About 92 percent of components used to repair a hybrid are from the original equipment manufacturer, compared to about 87 percent for conventional vehicles, the report said.
"The parts needed to repair hybrid vehicles are generally more expensive than a conventional vehicle," said Christina Tyler Loznicka, spokeswoman for Allstate Insurance Co. "Also, because most hybrids are new to the repair market, there is a higher reliance on manufacturer parts."
Design Studios of Major Automakers Are Asked to Draw 1,000-Pound, 4-Seat Vehicle
With all the importance being placed on making automobiles more fuel efficient, it makes perfect sense that this year's Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge asks design studios to envision the 1,000-pound, four-seat vehicle that is "both comfortable and secure, while delivering satisfactory driving performance without sacrificing the emotional connection and beautiful styling consumers demand."
We know what you're thinking and the answer is, no, that weight limit does not include four fat occupants. Judging criteria will be based upon not only meeting the weight constraint (1,500 pounds maximum with occupants), but also for the artistic beauty, comfort, uniqueness of design, roadworthiness, sustainability, performance and user-friendliness of the vehicle.
The auto show has been challenging design studios for the past seven years, and clearly this year the designers have their work cut out for them. The winning design will be announced Nov. 18 during the Design Los Angeles conference at the auto show.
In a first for the annual competition, participating design studios from not only the U.S. but also from Germany and Japan will compete against each other to showcase their talents. Designers from General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Smart, Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota and Volvo will contend for the top annual design honor.
"More than ever, automotive designers are able to experiment with hi-tech materials and alloys and this year's Design Challenge has provided them with the opportunity to use their creative talents to look into the future, exploring the hottest technologies to fulfill the needs of the consumer and the environment," said Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles and partner in The Design Academy, Inc.
Entries will be judged by Tom Matano, director of Industrial Design at San Francisco's Academy of Art University; Imre Molnar, dean of Detroit's College for Creative Studies; Stewart Reed, chairman, Transportation Design, Pasadena's Art Center College of Design; and Clive Hawkins, president, Aria Product Development.
The Design Challenge is sponsored by Faurecia, an automotive supplier specializing in seats, interiors, front ends and exhaust systems, as well as Yokohama Tire, which works closely with automakers in the U.S., Europe and Japan to develop tires for the latest concept vehicles.
Zipcar Expands Car-Share Service For Young Drivers With Harvard Program
Car-sharing service Zipcar is launching what it calls the first Boston-area car-sharing service for under-21 drivers, as the Cambridge, Mass.-based company looks to boost business while preparing to possibly go public later this year.
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Zipcar ad promotes collegiate car-sharing.
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Zipcar, which is partnering with online social rideshare community Zimride on the new service, based at Harvard University, will double its on-campus fleet to 20 cars and provide as many as 160 cars in the surrounding areas, the company said.
Zipcar, which has more than 400,000 members and 7,000 vehicles in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., said Harvard has more Zipcar members than any other North American university.
Toyota Seeks to Cut Cost, Speed Production of Hybrids With Stand-Alone Facilities
Toyota Motor Corp. is investing nearly $12 million to retool an idled engine assembly line at a plant on the southern island of Kyushu in order to produce engines for the mid-size Toyota SAI and Lexus HS 250h hybrids as part of an effort to reduce manufacturing time and costs, the Nikkei business news service reports.
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Engines for Lexus HS 250h will be built where caris assembled under new integrated productrion plan.
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The engines now are assembled at a plant nearly 380 miles to the northeast and must be shipped to the Kyushu facility, where Toyota builds the Lexus RX and HS250h and Toyota Highlander and SAI hybrids.
The automaker also intends to begin an integrated production system for hybrids at a factory at the northern end of the mainland of Honshu, according to the Nikkei report.
Analysts at IHS Global Insight say the moves are in line with Toyota's strategy to consolidate manufacturing facilities to cut costs and improve its ability to get vehicles into dealers hands as quickly as possible.
The new engine line, expected to be completed by mid 2012, will be capable of annual production of 150,000 1.8- and 2.4-liter hybrid engines.
We're all for anything that can help reduce costs and remove bottlenecks that create product shortages, particularly when at least some of the savings are passed on to consumers.
GM, SAIC to Collaborate on Small Gasoline Engines and Fuel-Saving Transmission
Expanding their partnership, General Motors Co. and SAIC Motor Corp. have agreed to collaborate on a new small-displacement gasoline engine family and an advanced fuel-saving transmission (pictured).
The agreement, signed today in Shanghai by GM Vice Chairman of Global Product Operations Tom Stephens and SAIC President Chen Hong, represents a significant milestone that expands GM and SAIC's relationship into powertrain development.
The gasoline engine, which will be offered in displacements from 1.0 liters to 1.5 liters, hits right at the heart of the global vehicle market, the automakers said in a joint statement. Its compact, lightweight design combines direct injection and turbocharging, providing customers with excellent fuel efficiency and performance, they said.
The engine will be used by GM and SAIC in China and future vehicles worldwide, providing further fuel-efficiency advances beyond traditional technologies.
Engineering and development of the new engine will be carried out jointly by GM and SAIC engineers in Detroit and at the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, the automakers' engineering and design joint venture in Shanghai.
The new front-wheel-drive transmission will incorporate the latest innovations for improving fuel economy and performance, they said. The transmission alone will provide upward of 10 percent improvement in fuel economy over today's conventional six-speed automatic transmissions.
The co-developed transmission will feature dry, dual-clutch technology. The automakers said it will provide shift comfort equal to a conventional fully automatic transmission, with superior quality, while reducing CO2 emissions.
When combined, these technologies can provide up to 20 percent improvement in CO2 emissions, compared to engines and automatic transmissions in production in China today.
Kia Motors to Unveil All-New Electric Concept Car at Paris Auto Show Next Month
Continuing its commitment to electric-drive small cars, Kia Motors announced today that it will unveil an all-new electric concept car at the Paris Motor Show on September 30, and accompanying the very brief statement were the photos appearing here.
Called the Pop, Kia's latest concept car boasts zero emissions, seats three and is all of three meters long. It "brings innovative design chic and dramatic styling to the city car segment," the company said, and it's hard to argue with that given these teaser images.
The announcement comes less than three months since the South Korean automaker said it will offer the Picanto in all-electric and turbocharged 3-cylinder versions in Europe in 2012.
The plug-in electric and turbo tri-cylinder variants will follow the standard, next-generation Picanto, which is expected to go on sale in Europe next year.
But wait, there's more: Widely overlooked at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show this past March was the world debut of Kia's all-electric Venga EV concept car.
The plug-in vehicle is the same size as the regular Venga B-segment MPV now on sale in Europe. It features an electric motor with peak power of 107 horsepower and maximum torque of 206 foot-pounds.
Lear To Make Home Chargers for GM's Volt
General Motors has selected mainline parts and components maker Lear Corp. to build the home charging stations that it will sell to Chevrolet Volt customers who want the convenience of faster 240-volt charging for the extended-range plug-in car.
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Generic home charging station from Lear Corp. showcases company's sleek design. Lear is developing home chargers for several automakers including GM.
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Lear also makes the on-board chargers for the Volt, as well as the Volt's wiring systems and the 120-volt portable charging cords that will be supplied as standard equipment with the cars, so adding the home charging station rounds out the suite and keeps it all in the family.
Lear, which is developing a number of components for hybrids and electric-drive vehicles said it has been working with GM on Volt charger development for about two years.
Lear has other home charger clients as well, including Daimler and Fisker Automotive.
GM hasn't announced pricing for the Volt home charger stations but several independent charger manufacturers have priced 240-volt home units at between $1,000 and $2,500, plus installation.
Unlike 120-volt cords that are self contained and can be carried in the trunk of a car, the 240-volt systems must be hard-wired in a permanent installation.
GM has said that federal incentive programs will enable it to offer them at no cost to about 4,600 early Volt buyers in areas identified by automakers and the Department of Energy as early adopter regions. The regions are in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
The free charger programs are bring coordinated by two California-based companies, Coulomb Technologies and ECOtality, under the names ChargePoint America, and The EV Project.
Australian Government Pares Down Green Car Innovation Fund - Again
Australia's developed a bit of a reputation over the past year as a country interested in fostering alternative energy vehicles. It even set up a $1.3 billion (Australian dollars) innovation fund last year designed to help its domestic car and parts makers with the costs of developing new technologies.
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Mitsubishi iMiEV electric cars from Japan being offloaded in Australia. The Green Car Innovation Fund was set up to help develop EVs and other highly efficient advanced technology vehicles at home.
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Since then, however it's been paring down the fund - a signal, perhaps, that the powers that be down under don't see immense public support for the idea of fostering home-grown development f cars that will help Australia reduce its appetite for oil..
It 's not as though the Aussies don't have money.
The government in 2008 approved a $6.2 billion aid package to help ensure the longterm viability of the nation's ailing domestic auto industry and said $3.4 billion of it - more than half - would be earmarked for green programs and projects. And both the present government and the opposition are projecting budget surpluses by 2010, which could certainly be used to support spending on automotive innovation.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has even promised that if her party retains power after the elections, she'll authorize a 4-year, $A394 million car scrapping or "cash for clunkers" program.
The Australian newspaper The Age is reporting, though, that her government, embroiled in a tough election campaign, has sliced $A200 million from the innovation fund - following a similar cut when the new budget was announced earlier this year.
Scottish Scientists Develop Process to Make Biobutanol From Whisky Byproducts
Researchers at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland have developed a process to produce biobutanol from the byproducts of whisky distilling.
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Future ad? "Scotch whisky for the lady and, of course, a Scotch whisky byproduct for her car."
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Don't laugh. Butanol can be used in unmodified gasoline engines and contains 30 percent more energy than ethanol.
The university has filed a patent for the new fuel process, developed over the last two years at a cost of $405,000 by its Biofuel Research Centre.
The process uses the two main byproducts of the whisky production process - pot ale, the liquid from the copper stills; and draff, the spent grains - as the basis for producing the butanol that can then be used as fuel.
The Edinburgh Napier team focused on Scotland's $6.2 billion whisky industry as a ripe resource for developing biobutanol. The Scottish malt whisky industry produces 423 million gallons of pot ale and 206,132 tons of draff annually.
The university plans to create a spin-out company to take the new fuel to market and leverage the commercial opportunity, in the bid to make it available at petrol pumps.
The technology for developing biofuel from whisky was inspired from a century-old process created by Chaim Weizmann, a Jewish refugee chemist in Manchester who studied the butanol fermentation initially as part of a program to produce rubber synthetically.
The process was then used in explosives manufacture and helped win both WWI and WWII.
Auto X-Prize's 'Mainstream' Finalist Gets OK to Provide Own Validation Results
Testing With Other Finalists Waived by Organizers Because of Damage to Cars' Engines
Team Edison2 remains the only finalist in the "mainstream" vehicles class of Progressive Automotive X Prize's $10 million contest to find a 100-mpg passenger vehicle, but the two cars fielded by Virginia-based auto development group won't be participating with finalists in the other classes during the competition's final phase this month.
Edison2, which was featured in a recent Green Car Advisor post, misinformed the post's author about its two cars' participation in the Validation phase emissions and fuel economy testing at the U.S. Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory's dynamometer this week.
While the Progressive X Prize's Alternative category finalists will go through the Argonne testing - there's $2.5 million up for grabs in the two Alternative categories and $5 million in the Mainstream category - Edison2's cars will be absent, contrary to what the team's R&D director, Brad Jaeger, told Green Car Advisor in an interview last week.
The reason? The E85-burning motorcycle engines that power the cars were damaged by third-party test drivers and are undergoing extensive repair.
China to Spend $14.7 Billion on Domestic Makers of Alternative-Fuel Vehicles
The Chinese government plans to spend roughly 100 billion yuan ($14.7 billion) through 2020 to help domestic companies develop alternative-fuel vehicles, The Nikkei Japanese subscription news service reported today.
The report amounts to yet more evidence of China's drive to be the global leader in electric-drive vehicle use and development/production. And it comes on the heels of a report that Dongfeng Motor Corp., China's third-largest auto group, plans to invest $443 million in hybrid and electric vehicles.
According to a draft blueprint prepared by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will form the core of the initiative. The goal is to put 5 million alternative-fuel vehicles on Chinese roads by 2020.
China FAW Group Corp., China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and 14 other businesses, including major automakers and battery developers, will establish an industry organization, The Nikkei reported.
The program, whose outline is expected to be released Wednesday, will call for investing 65 billion yuan ($9.57 billion), or roughly two-thirds of the overall budget, by 2015.
Of this investment, 30 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) will be spent to fund research and development at electric vehicle makers and subsidize purchases of eco-friendly cars, The Nikkei reported.
Additionally, 5 billion yuan ($736 million) will be earmarked for setting up charging stands, with 10 billion yuan ($1.47 billion) set aside to assist manufacturers of such key components as motors and batteries.
For hybrid vehicles, 20 billion yuan ($2.94 billion) will go toward development and buyer subsidies for such vehicles.
The government will decide how to spend the remaining budget in 2015 after assessing the program's progress.
Dongfeng, China's 3rd-Largest Auto Group, to Invest $443 Million in Hybrids, EVs
Dongfeng Motor Corp. plans to invest 3 billion yuan ($443 million) over the next five years to develop hybrid and battery-electric vehicles, the Shanghai Daily reported.
Right, DMC's headquarters.
Dongfeng, China's third-largest auto group and the Chinese partner of Honda Motor Corp. and PSA Peugeot Citroen, said it will focus on hybrid cars for commercialization before extending self-developed battery technologies to pure electric passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
The company, based in Wuhan, Hubei Province, aims to sell 100,000 medium- and full-hybrid vehicles and 50,000 pure-electric cars by 2015, the newspaper said. Its long-term plan is to make the energy-saving and new-energy vehicles account for 20 percent of its total Dongfeng-branded passenger cars.
Dongfeng will also strive to sell 800,000 new-energy vehicles through 2020.
"We have set new-energy vehicles as our mid-to-long term strategy, and we want to grab the business opportunity and lead the industry," Xu Ping, chairman of the board of directors of Dongfeng Motor, was quoted as saying.
Currently, Dongfeng has registered 67 patents for new-energy vehicles. More than 400 vehicles powered by new energies or energy-saving technologies are running on trial in cities such as Wuhan and Shanghai.
In early June, China announced plans to subsidize purchases of energy-efficient cars in five cities with hopes to spur the sales of green cars by more than 4 million units by 2012.
That encouraged carmakers, including Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp., to raise output of alternative-energy vehicles.
In another national draft plan for alternative-energy vehicles during 2011-2020, China wants to be the world's largest new-energy vehicle market by 2020 with a vehicle population of 5 million units.
EV Maker Think Announces Entry Into French Market With New Distribution Partner
Scandinavian electric-vehicle maker Think today announced its entry into the French market through a partnership with MOBIVIA Groupe and its newly established sustainable mobility division, O2City.
Think's partnership with O2City represents the biggest distribution and service offering in Think's history, with access to potentially more than 800 sales and service facilities throughout France, the company said in a statement.
The partnership puts Think in a strong position to fill the EV fleet needs various entities such as with a consortium led by French postal service La Poste. This consortium aims to put 100,000 electric vehicles on French roads over the next five years.
"We could not wish for a stronger and better-equipped partner for the sale of the Think City in France, said Think CEO Richard Canny, in reference to the company's City EV.
O2City claims it will offer much more than EVs. The company says it is is also set up to offer finance packages, insurance, charging stations at its outlets, home charging solutions, EV maintenance and after-sales service through its network of eco-mobility centers.
European production of the Think City continues in Finland with manufacturing partner Valmet Automotive, which also assembles the Boxster and Cayman models for Porsche AG. Customer deliveries are taking place across Europe in selected key EV markets such as The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.
THINK also recently announced plans to establish a U.S. production facility during 2011 in Elkhart County, Indiana, and is working with Japanese partner Itochu on developing operations in Asia.