Elkhart Think factory assembling first electric cars

The Norwegian automaker has hired 25 workers and is assembling the vehicles as parts arrive from foreign and domestic manufacturers, said Brendan Prebo, spokesman for Think. Rolling chassis are being shipped in from the company's plant in Finland and here, employees are installing motors, parts required specifically for U.S. cars and batteries from EnerDel in Indianapolis.

The first car is expected to be completed in the middle of December with a total of 300 scheduled to roll off the line before the end of the year, Prebo said.

Originally Think had planned to assemble the first cars for the U.S. market at its operation in Finland but changed course and moved up production.

"Part of it, we just wanted to give some experience building cars in Elkhart," Prebo said. "We saw it was possible and feasible to do that. We decided to pull ahead with production in Elkhart."

About 200 of the first cars will be sold to Project Plug-In, a program run by Energy Systems Network in Indianapolis.

In 2011, Think plans to build 2,000 electric-powered cars in Elkhart and expand the local workforce to 100 employees.