By Tim Vandenack, Truth Staff
tvandenack@etruth.com
GOSHEN -- Another electric vehicle company, this one from Scandinavia, is eyeing Elkhart County as the possible site of a new manufacturing facility.
Norway-based Think is looking to build its first U.S. plant and has narrowed the search to three locations, including Elkhart County and sites in Oregon and Michigan, company officials said Tuesday. The company makes compact, two-door passenger cars and its plans here call for development of a plant next year that would initially produce 2,500 autos per year and employ 415 by 2013.
"It is really one of the first highway-ready, fully functioning electric vehicles," Think North American Chief Financial Officer Tom Kemeny told the Elkhart County Council at a special meeting Tuesday. "There is no tail pipe. There are no emissions."
Council President John Letherman said he hoped the company's plans here develop quickly, creating jobs, and the body granted preliminary approval in a unanimous voice vote to a proposed property tax break for the firm. Final consideration of the proposal will come at the council's regular meeting on Jan. 9.
Letherman said after Tuesday's meeting that with Navistar International Corp.'s plans to build electric trucks in Wakarusa and Think's proposal, if it materializes, the green technology sector here is poised to take off. Such development puts the county "where we need to go to diversify the economy," he said.
The start-up Electric Motors Corp. also proposes building electric-hybrid vehicles here in Elkhart County.
According to the paperwork outlining details of the proposed tax break, Think would build a plant at a vacant manufacturing building at C.R. 2 and S.R. 13 north of Middlebury. It would invest $24.76 million in new machinery through 2013 to retrofit the structure and the 415 workers would collectively earn $13.8 million per year, an average of $33,253 each.
Under terms of the local tax break, the firm would save $552,440 in property taxes over the 10 years of the abatement but still be liable for payments of $538,630. Think is also pursuing state and federal incentives, according to Kemeny.
Think's roots date to 1991, said Kemeny, and the company's car, called the Think City, is already being manufactured at a Finnish plant for the European market. The vehicle, made with recyclable plastic body panels, can travel 100-plus miles per charge and he said it is meant for city use.
"It's an urban vehicle. This isn't to get from Detroit down to here," Kemeny said. He didn't put an estimated retail price tag on the car, but said once purchased, maintenance and operation costs are 75 percent lower than with a gas-powered vehicle.
Think, a privately owned company, had stopped production for 10 months, according to the New York Times. But it was recapitalized last summer and Indianapolis-based battery maker Ener1 now owns a 31-percent stake in it, making it the largest single stakeholder. The funding has already been earmarked to build the planned U.S. manufacturing facility, according to company spokesman Brendan Prebo.
As for location, Indiana and Elkhart County seem to have the inside track over Michigan and Oregon. "We're further along with the state of Indiana than we are with the other states," said Prebo.
Kemeny cited the workforce here, proximity to suppliers, notably Ener1, and the central U.S. location here, good for distribution throughout the country.