Last year, we profiled Elkhart County, Indiana, which has been economically devastated by the troubles of the auto and RV industries. We asked if the birth of an electric vehicle infrastructure could bring back jobs to the troubled region of Northeast Indiana, and now this strategy appears to have taken another step toward payoff.
Norwegian electric carmaker Think announced that it will begin production of its City EV at a retooled Phillips plant that made doors and windows for RVs before closing in June. Production will begin in the first quarter of 2011 with 100 jobs created this year. Think hopes to reach a capacity of producing 20,000 cars annually and hire a total of 415 workers by 2013. The Phillips plant left 250 people out of work when it closed.
Elkhart offered Think a few distinct advantages, including $3 million in performance-based tax credits over 10 years from Indiana as well as local tax breaks. More importantly, perhaps, is that Indiana is angling to become the home of a new electric car industry: Think’s battery-maker and partial owner, Ener1, builds its batteries just to the south. Because other EV makers are popping up nearby (including the ones we profiled), the supply chains become highly favorable—everything an EV maker needs is close by.
The Think City will be similar to the vehicles the company sells in European countries with some Americanized upgrades, including a higher top speed of 70 mph, a stronger body structure and a range of 100 miles. The target price will be $30,000 with a $7,500 federal tax credit, cutting it to the mid-$20,000s.
