By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
ELKHART -- Four wheels, two seats and one steering wheel but no gas tank.
The all-electric Think City car, the newest addition to Elkhart County's growing alternative-fuel vehicle manufacturing, wraps around the driver like any combustion engine sedan. With ample head and leg room, the interior has the look and feel of the cars on the road today.
It has air conditioning, heat, a radio and the three gauges on the dashboard tell the driver how fast the car is going, whether the battery is discharging or recharging and how much power the battery has left. The automobile will drive up to 100 miles on a single charge with the American version being able to go a cool 70 miles per hour.
And when the driver steps on the pedal?
"It goes," assured Keith Takasawa, director of product development at Think North America.
Company officials are confident the U.S. market has an appetite for the compact hatchback which never needs to stop at a gas station and has its first maintenance expense only after 50,000 miles to replace the brake pads.
"To drive it, it actually drives more like a larger kind of car," said Richard Canny, chief executive officer of the Norwegian Think Global. "It's clearly for some people their second or third car, not their only car."
Assembly required
The cars, having an interior and exterior made from plastic composite that is 100 percent recyclable, will be assembled at the Elkhart plant. Of the 415 jobs at the facility, most will be manufacturing positions but some will also be in management, logistics and purchasing, Canny said.
Local workers were cited as a key factor in luring Think to Elkhart County. They are skilled in assembly and should have little problem switching from building big recreational vehicles to making sporty electric vehicles, official said.
"The workforce skill base has been automotive but this is a new level of sophistication from what we've historically done," said Dorinda Heiden-Guss, president of Elkhart County Economic Development Corp. "Our education components from Ivy Tech to others in the region have been able to gear up and help start training people in our workforce. We are in the mind set and mode to embrace change."
In addition to the positions inside the Think plant, the new production is expected to create thousands of indirect jobs in the county as well as across the state.
Hiring
Once the equipment from the former Philips Products operation has been removed from the building on Magnum Drive, Think will put the conveyor line down the center of the plant and install the tooling needed to build the cars, Canny said. Production is scheduled to start in early 2011.
The company is planning to begin taking applications for employment during the second quarter of this year. Canny advised interested workers to regular check the Web site, www.thinkev.com, for updates on hiring.
The average rate of the new jobs will be about $16.70 an hour, Heiden-Guss said. Acknowledging this may be lower than what RV workers have been paid in the past, she pointed out the economic recession has reduced wages in all sectors.
For sale
On a dealer's lot, the Think City will initially retail for $30,000. However, Canny noted federal and state tax breaks should lower the cost a little more.
Although the long-term target price is $20,000 after the incentives, Canny said even with the higher retail sticker, the car costs just 2 cents per mile to operate, which is 75 percent less than a conventional car.
"It will be more than a comparable gas engine car," the CEO admitted, "but it's nearly free to operate."