Think electric
The TH!NK City is one of the first electric cars on the market, and it has a lot going for it. However, is it the car of the future?
MyScience went for a spin on a TH!NK City electric car on a snowy Tuesday. Photo: Toni Kaario.
Driving an electric car feels unreal at first. The only indication that the engine is on comes from a green light near the steering wheel; the whole vehicle is completely silent. Even when cruising at under 40 km/h you can barely hear the whirr of the engine.
Of course, there is no engine in the more traditional meaning of the word. Electric motors need little airflow, have only a few moving parts and don’t, technically, consume anything.
The silent companion
The TH!NK City looks modest both inside and out, and it would not get noticed immediately, unlike the Fisker Karma, a luxury sports car-like electric car that originates from the same Valmet Automotive factory in Uusikaupunki, Finland.
The City does, however, have every bit of your attention, when you push the pedal down and start driving. The acceleration is rapid, and the sensation can only be described as dreamlike: the sound resembles a subway car and there is no transmission to complicate things.
One of the big upsides of electric motors is that once you put your weight on the pedal, you have all of the engine’s torque at your disposal right away. This means that the acceleration feels continuous and uphill roads, that would normally make your engine choke, are tackled with only a slight push on the throttle. The maximum speed of 100 km/h may not please everyone, but it is reasonable for the majority of prospective buyers.
Even though most of what makes the City interesting is under the hood, so to speak, consumers do not make their choices based on technical data; decisions are made based on the look and feel of something. Luckily, the City is about as consumer friendly as a one-gear bicycle. The learning curve is almost nonexistent, so people with only a little experience on the road will feel at home behind the wheel.
Going electric
The concept of the City differs in a huge way from the hybrid cars that have been on the market for a while. Toyota Prius, perhaps the most recognizable hybrid car, runs on a conventional engine aided by an electric one, so despite being one of the more eco-friendly cars out there, it still produces a fair amount of greenhouse gases.
The City causes no local air pollution and even when taking into consideration that the power plant that the charge comes from does pollute, electric vehicles still emit less with a ratio of 2:1.
Just as with any portable electronic device, the heart of any electric car is the battery. The City carries a battery pack weighing almost 300 kg, roughly a quarter of its total weight, that has an estimated cost of some €20,000. It will come as no surprise that battery packs are the most disputed of part of the industry: batteries are difficult and costly to produce, they have limited life spans and weigh a good deal. The future of the electric car relies on the development of affordable and reasonable batteries.
Looking forward
The TH!NK City may be the best selling pure electric car as of October 2010, but the quantities in production are still fairly marginal. TH!NK reported selling 2,500 units this year, which is decent, if you take into consideration that it is only sold in a handful of countries, including Finland.
The electric car industry is hoping for a massive increase in vehicle demand in the future, but there are still many questions to answer before they become the standard means of transportation: Is the range of 160 km enough? Will battery packs become more affordable? The industry is desperately trying to discover the answers.
Toni Kaario is a second year student at Aalto University School of Science and Technology. He loves reading non-fiction books, and has a knack for asking the right questions.