The Ford TH!NK was a line of electric vehicles produced by the TH!NK Mobility, then an enterprise of Ford Motor Company. The short-lived line included four models: the TH!NK Neighbor and the TH!NK City, small electric automobiles, and the TH!NK Bike Traveler and the TH!NK Bike Fun, electric-powered motorized bicycle. Ford sold its stock, and the resulting company, Think Global, produced electric cars in Norway until declaring bankruptcy in 2011.
TH!NK City
The two door Think City could seat a driver and a passenger and had a top speed of 56 miles per hour (90Â km/h). The car had an acceleration speed of zero to 30 miles per hour (48Â km/h) in seven seconds and weighed 2,075 pounds. The model was 9.8 feet (3.0Â m) long, 5.25 feet (1.60Â m) wide, and 5.1 feet (1.6Â m) high.
TH!NK Neighbor
The Neighbor was designed to meet the NHTSA specification for Neighborhood Electric Vehicles. Design and manufacture was unrelated to the Th!nk City. The Neighbor was initially offered in two models, a two-seater and a four-seater, with a two-passenger utility truck version offered near the end of production. The TH!NK Neighbor had a fixed roof over an open enclosure; a rain cover was optionally available to protect the passengers from the elements. The normal top speed was governored to 25 miles per hour (40Â km/h) per NHTSA requirements, and it also had a "turf" mode that set its maximum speed at 15 miles per hour (24Â km/h) for golf course use. Many options were designed for use on the golf course: it featured a bag rack, a holder for scorecards, tees, and balls, and a club washer. Additionally, there was a trunk option for the four-passenger version that could double as a cooler.
Disposal controversy
A major controversy erupted when Ford decided to crush off-lease TH!NK City cars stockpiled in the U.S. After protesting by environmentalist groups, including a Greenpeace rally on the roof of Ford's Norway offices, Ford decided to ship the excess vehicles to Norway.
See also
- Electric car use by country
- List of modern production plug-in electric vehicles
- Plug-in electric vehicle
- Th!nk City
References
External links
- Official Ford TH!NK page
- Wendy Priesnitz (2000-01-12). "Ford Launches LIne of Electric Vehicles". Natural Life Magazine. Archived from the original on 2000-08-19. Retrieved 2010-09-13.Â
- A review of the Sport Version of the TH!NK Neighbor at TropiCar, Inc.