Scandinavian electric car company, THINK, has teamed up with AeroVironment (AV), a supplier of charging infrastructure, to develop a fast charging system for its electric vehicles.
The aim is to develop a fast-charging infrastructure for the USA and encourage urban drivers to swap to electric cars. The goal is to take the batteries from empty to 80% charged in just fifteen minutes. THINK anticipates commercial fleet operators will be the first to use the fast-charge system. However, shopping centres, car parks and other businesses may also provide the service as a way of attracting custom from electric vehicle owners.
The THINK City electric car will go on sale in the US this year with a factory due to open in Indiana in 2011. From 2012 the company will source all the batteries for US-market cars from EnerDel, an Indiana-based lithium ion battery manufacturer. The two firms are developing batteries to withstand the demands of rapid charging.
The US-market THINK City is claimed to have 'a top speed of more than 70mph and a range of more than 100 miles per full charge'. An on-board charger allows the batteries to be replenished overnight from the domestic electricity supply. THINK says that in Europe most customers find the night time charging convenient.
Long charging times are a distinct downside to running an electric car. Overnight charging makes sense most of the time but forgetting to plug the car in at night would cause problems the next day. Any attempt to make recharging as convenient as filling up with petrol has to be a step in the right direction.
John Lambert - 27 Jan 2010