Think City electric car almost adequate

Scott Burgess / The Detroit News

When the Think City arrives in 2011, it won't look like the car I drove for three days.

It will have a new interior, new exterior, new batteries and new drivetrain. About the only thing that will carry over is the name, Think.

So why bother hoping into this little two-seat electric car?

Lots of people will let me drive one around a track, but Think was willing to let me to take it home. Talk about confidence. And if these little runabouts are our future, I wanted to take my future for a ride.

Zero-emission vehicles have become the holy grail of the auto industry. Think City, which falls somewhere between little road runner and souped-up golf cart, was my first experience living an electric life.

First, the good news: For the most part, I could live with it without changing my life very much. My iPhone loses its charge faster than this car and creating the habit of plugging in the car at the end of the day is not difficult.

There's lots of space inside of the little cabin -- much more than you think. While the size comparison to the SmartFortwo seems obvious, it is unfair. The Think City offers a lot more practical space than the Smart and is a much more fun to drive at low speeds.

The two-door hatchback has a nice flat loading space in the back. While a second row is optional, I'd recommend avoiding it. Let this car be itself.

Vehicle good commuter car

If this were used as a commuter car, it would work fantastic. With a range of about 100 miles, it could handle most of America's daily grind working for The Man. The batteries charge up in six to eight hours on 220 volts (the same as your dryer) or between 12 and 16 hours on 110 volts.

I was never able to fully charge the Think City when I was home because most work days, I'm home less than 16 hours -- about the amount of time needed to recharge. But if I owned one, I would, no doubt, make the higher voltage available.

Recharging is a breeze: Pull out the charging kit, plug it into the wall and leave the car alone. A light comes on to let you know it's charging. The future will likely bring chargers that talk to a smart grid, the car and the electric company -- allowing the car to be charged at even cheaper rates in off-peak times.

There is some excitement after the first night of charging. When you get in the car, you look at the little charge meter after turning the key. There's a sense of disappointment that it's not at 100 percent. But you do the math -- 80 percent of 100 miles, minus the 44-mile round trip to work and you head out. I just prayed it didn't rain so I didn't have to use the wipers or the turn on the AC for too long -- I want the power to go for distance, not creature comforts.

The electric motor hums along and keeps you moving. The silent ride is unnerving at first because there's no engine to cancel the road noise. You can hear ever squeak and rattle; and there are a lot. (We're going to need much smoother and bump free roads in the future.)

Because there's no transmission, the car never gives you those pause points during normal acceleration -- it just keeps going faster until you hit its top speed of about 63 mph.

Now that top speed may sound OK, unless you attempt to merge onto a highway. Then it feels borderline dangerous. Big trucks chugging down the right hand lane can't stop fast enough to let you merge and you don't have the power to accelerate out of trouble. At its top speed, the car felt as if it had no torque left in reserve. It would lose speed on hills and I swear a strong headwind was using up my battery.

Passing becomes an exercise of futility and when you're 10 mph slower than the legal speed limit and 20 mph slower than the real one. (I've been assured by Think that when a U.S. model appears, it will be able to go faster.) At least the SmartFortwo could hit 80 mph and hold its own on the highway. The Think City takes its name too literally and remains a car for city driving only.

But in the city, it's nice. From a stop, it feels zippy (though its 0-60 mph time is around 20 seconds). Overall, its ride is a little bumpy but it handles corners well and the overall suspension held up to Detroit's roads -- which is saying something.

Car's interior is utilitarian

The interior design is basic but complete. The dash is simple, with a ledge across the passenger's side. There is the traditional gear shifter on the floor, a piece of irony because there are no gears to really shift. But the ride interior is complete without flair. It's utilitarian, which befits this purpose of this car.

While my test vehicle used traditional batteries, the U.S. version will likely come with better lithium ion batteries, providing more power and a longer distance on a single charge.

My squared off test vehicle didn't have the exterior good looks like the model being shown and sold in Europe. (Think was formed in 1991, bought by Ford Motor Co. in 1999 and sold in 2003 to a Norwegian firm.)

Those models have a much more rounded edges and softer look. Eventually, we'll see something more like those models in the U.S.

While the car may get a C for performance, Think deserves and A for effort.

Electric cars are the future

The electrics are coming and fear will lead the charge: Fear of high fuel prices, fear of inane federal requirements and mandates or something down the road we don't know we're supposed to be afraid of yet will help put small electric cars in driveways near you sooner than you think.

It's companies like Think that seem to be doing most of the heavy lifting with the smallest cars. They are building little 'letrics out of everyone else's spare parts bins.

Sure, startup carmakers like Telsa grab PR praise for building a handful of $100,000-plus electric roadsters while others stumble over their own extension cords. Tesla hopes to sell 1,500 roasters this year. By comparison, Toyota sells 1,500 Camrys by dinner time on Jan. 1 of any given year.

But we need an electric car for the masses to make a difference, and no one has offered one yet.

Meanwhile, Detroit's automotive executives collectively wring their hands, making nervous jokes about liars and battery companies (enough with that one). There are hybrids and extended range electric vehicles and lots of cars planned in small numbers.

Think City feels closest to done while changing my life the least.

But there's still work to do. This car may be the closest thing to a real electric car for everyone, but even Think City is not ready for prime time.

sburgess@detnews.com (313) 223-3217