photo: green wombat
Think the electric car is dead? Think again. Norwegian electric car company Think has raised $60 million in its latest round from U.S. and European investors, including Silicon Valley’s DFJ Element and Capricorn Investment Group. Other U.S. investors include RockPort Capital Partners and Wintergreen Advisers. Think now has $85 million in the bank to begin production later this year of the City, a two-seater urban runabout that can go about 112 miles (180 kilometers) on a single charge with a top speed of 62 mph (100 kph) with its current battery. The zippy little EV should get even zippier: Think has cut a $43 million deal with Tesla Motors to buy a version of its lithium-ion battery packs that power the Silicon Valley electric car company’s forthcoming Roadster super car. Think will initially sell the City in Norway before expanding to other European markets in 2008. The company hopes to bring the car to the U.S. sometime in 2009.
The latest funding round marks the rapid resurrection of a company left for dead little more than a year ago. It began life as a startup before being acquired by Ford (F) in 1999 when automakers faced a California mandate to produce a zero-emission vehicles. After investing $150 million in Think, Ford sold the company to a Swiss electronics outfit in 2003 when it looked like Detroit would be able to gut the California regulation. (For its part, General Motors (GM) subsequently scrapped its EV1 electric car.) With Think in bankruptcy by 2006, the three founders of $8 billion Norwegian solar energy company REC bought Think last March, acquiring an electric car factory and Ford’s designs for a next-generation car. Stay tuned to Green Wombat and Business 2.0 for more on Think in the coming weeks.
Green Wombat 
This car looks like a real option for city use. Even though this product aren’t profitable at the moment, it is an important step towards developing a good solution and alternative to fuel and inefficient engines.
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