Green Wombat

photo: Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors has inked a $43 million agreement to supply lithium-ion battery packs to Norwegian electric automaker Think. The deal is the first for Tesla Energy Group, a division of the Silicon Valley electric car company. Tesla Energy was launched to commercialize the battery technology that gives Tesla’s forthcoming Roadster supercar its zero-to-60-in-four-seconds punch and 200+ miles-on-a-charge range. The deal will rev up Think, which makes a two-seater electric runabout at the other end of the automotive spectrum. The Think City will need about 3,000 lithium-ion batteries – the Roadster sports around 7,000 – to give the car a range of about 112 miles on a single charge, according to Think. The company says the agreement calls for Tesla to develop prototypes for a range of batteries. "We will be in the lead of the thriving battery technology, and our goal is always to achieve higher capacity and more power," said Think CEO Jan-Olaf Willums in a statement. "We will get the first test batteries already this fall, and I am anxious to test drive the first ‘Think powered by Tesla.’ " Think will continue to sell models powered by batteries from Zebra. "Customers will now get the choice of whatever battery that suite their driving pattern," said Willums.

Ford (F) bought the Norwegian startup in 1999 and invested some $100 million before selling the company five years later. Think subsequently changed hands again and was acquired in 2006 by a group of Norwegian investors led by Willums (pictured on the left with Tesla CEO Martin Eberhard). A new generation of its Think City model (photo below) will hit Norway by the end of 2007, and the company says its plans to expand to other European markets and the United States over the next year or two. The agreement calls for Tesla to begin delivery of the batteries in December. "We have seen a high level of interest from companies in developing custom battery packs for a wide range of applications," said Tesla Energy Group executive vice president Bernie Tse in a statement. As automakers like General Motors (GM), Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) continue to show off electric concept cars that may or may not ever get made, the Tesla-Think deal shows that an alternative automotive infrastructure is emerging far from Detroit and Tokyo.

photo: KnutBry/TinAgent/Think Technology