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Ford paid $23 million
in 1999 for the Norway-based electric vehicle company Pivco
Industries, renaming it Think or TH!NK, and has since invested $100
million in the technology as a cure to environmental regulations on
fuel economy and emissions.
"The bottom line is we
don't believe that this is the future of environmental transport for
the mass market," Holmes said.
When Think started
production of the Think City electric car in Norway nearly three years
ago, officials said they hoped to make 5,000 a year. But production
since then has only totaled a little below 1,050 cars. "Clearly that's
a disappointing number for us," Holmes said.
Ford will try to sell
Think, or work with the Norwegian government to transform the company
to create a viable business, Holmes said. Ford hopes to make a
decision by the end of September on the future of Think, which has two
facilities outside Oslo and employs about 150 people.
The Think City, a
two-seater, plastic-bodied hatchback sold in Europe, has a range of
about 53 miles in city driving and requires up to six hours for a
recharge.
Ford began producing
the Think Neighbor, a golfcart-like vehicle with a top speed of about
25 miles per hour, at a Detroit plant in the fall last year. Ford said
the plant could produce up to 10,000 vehicles annually, but only 1,688
have been sold so far this year. Ford will end production of the
Neighbor at the end of this year, spokeswoman Sara Tatchio said.
The world's
second-largest automaker is in the midst of a turnaround plan after a
$5.45 billion loss last year that includes plant closings to cut
costs.
Others step back from
electric
Other automakers have
also backed away from pure electric vehicles. General Motors Corp.,
the world's largest automaker, spent over $1 billion to develop the GM
EV1 electric vehicle in the 1990s. But the EV1 also suffered from a
limited range of less than 100 miles before it needed hours of
recharging time, and GM stopped building the EV1 a few years ago.
"Battery electric
vehicles are not there yet technologically," said Jim Kliesch, a
research associate with the nonprofit American Council for an
Energy-Efficient Economy and co-author of "The Environmental Guide to
Cars and Trucks."
Electric vehicles cost
thousands of dollars more than similarly sized cars because of the
expensive batteries, which need replacing after a few years, he said.
"Nobody has found a way to build a battery that is cheap, can quickly
recharge and allows you to drive long distances," Kliesch added.
Government regulations
pushing for so-called zero-emission vehicles such as electric cars,
which emit no smog-producing exhaust, have also been pushed back.
California's
regulations forcing automakers to offer up to 100,000 electric cars
and other low-pollution vehicles on the road each year were scheduled
to go into effect with the 2003 model year.
But GM won a court
injunction delaying that order, and automotive executives expect that
the state will rewrite its regulations to allow for more vehicles that
emit a low amount of exhaust, such as hybrid vehicles that pair
batteries with gasoline engines.
Hybrid cars, such as
Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius and Honda Motor Co.'s Insight, have sold
well since they arrived on the market a few years ago.
Ford said it will focus
on fuel cell and hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles to meet
environmental regulations for cars and trucks. Ford plans to sell its
first hybrid, a version of the Ford Escape small sport utility
vehicle, next year.
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