Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
This is Norway
This rather small country with its renowned natural scenery,
is populated by a fascinating but contradictory people.
They're pretty modest and likes to mind their own business,
but at the same time there is nothing they can't do based simply on the fact that they are Norwegian.
They were the first to reach the South Pole and the American continent.
They can beat Brazil 4-0 in soccer,
rule the Winter Olympics
and get 99% of their power from hydroelectric dams.
So if you where to tell them that you can't run a car on water,
they would probably say:
Well that depends on how you look at it...
It can do a 110 miles on one charge
Its highway approved,
has a top speed of 65 mph.
Best of all, this is not even a prototype,
It's here.
The Think City is an all electric suburb-to-city car that has it where it counts.
Its Scandinavian design is minimal, but comfortable.
It packs a lot of space for the city dweller.
It's easy to maneuver and above all: it’s fun.
We took the City for an extensive 3-day test drive and it surprised us a lot.
But first things first
Trying to turn it on...
Lights blinking all around, yeah
Aaand, I think it is on,
handbrake is of, aand…
Yes, rolling!
Fast yeah! It works like a charm.
We can make quick turns without problems, its excellent.
Pretty aggressive, ey?
It does not have a servo,
but it has a very low radius in "the swing"
so you don’t have to push it far to get around corners.
It’s just like, whoo, and we’re around.
It’s not called "swing" its called ehm…
It’s not called a swing?
Turning
Turning! Turning this car is quite easy
It’s not like an automatic, because it doesn’t have any gears,
but you put it in "D" and push the acceleration… Pedal
and it goes like hell
So acceleration is very smooth and all the way good.
Being a small vehicle you would expect the space to be small and crummy,
But as you can see, me being 1.85 meters tall I still have room for my head.
I can jump around.
In the back we have excellent place. The trunk is very big.
We have actually been able to carry our whole film set during this filming
Is it possible to have sex in this car?
It is very possible to have sex in this car,
if you would like to do so, but being that all the walls are filled with windows,
creating a nice view and also creating a very open atmosphere, you will be spotted.
But the space is here, so do whatever you want to do.
Considering safety in a car that is this small you would think: If I crash I will die, but consider this:
You could actually drive quite fast into something quite big and hard and come out walking..
Ok so the car is named the City.
So you would expect it to perform excellently in city driving conditions.
But what if you had to satisfy the Norwegian’s *** for freezing temperatures combined with high altitudes?
On the doorsteps of Oslo and around 300 meters up, lies Tryvann,
a ski resort that is heavily visited by the people of Oslo during the winter months.
If we could make it up there and make it fast,
we could be there just in time for sunset.
We quickly realized how little hassle it was to get up the hill.
Our mighty challenge was reduced to a tourist sightseeing trip.
The driver became so sure of himself, he even tried to overtake the film car.
Moments later we made it to the top.
And although the task in the end was extremely easy
we felt like conquerors of old.
We got ourselves a nice cup of hot chocolate and reflected on the day’s events.
This would have been the perfect spot to contemplate on how to get rid of the city smog below us,
except for the fact that we could not see it because of the fog.
So with that in mind we called it a day and went to bed,
curious on what the next day would bring.
The next day it was of to the drag racing track, RaceWay Oslo.
It’s over a kilometer long and is located right next to Oslo Airport,
and we could think of no other place to push the Think to its limits.
But since it’s the weekend and the track is not serviced,
it’s covered with a lethal mixture of snow and ice.
When they saw the track, our camera crew went on immediate strike,
in fear of their own lives.
But the madness of our driver knows no limits and he was determined to take it for a spin nonetheless.
Of course, we could not make any accurate judgments on the car in these conditions.
But that is not to say that is wasn’t an exhilarating experience,
both for the safely distant crew and the driver of the car.
It was time for us to deliver our car back,
and to give our experience some thought.
We felt that the car had served us well during these days and the 300 km we had driven.
We had actually saved as much CO as 36 trees can consume in an entire year.
And even if the power were to come from coal,
it would still have been a lot better than if we had driven a car with a normal combustion engine.
In terms on energy efficiency,
it is easy to see that the 100% electric alternative is superior in overcoming our energy challenges.
So before you hydrogen buffs get all nasty on us, we would like to point out that hydrogen needs to be produced from something.
It is absolutely delusional to view it as an intelligent solution when you compare the well-to-wheel efficiency
which can be as low as 23% for the hydrogen, compared to the battery-electric 84%.
Additionally the infrastructure of the electric vehicle is already here.
It would take huge resources to establish an infrastructure for hydrogen.
So put a sock in it Hammond,
and for the rest of you: We would encourage you to join us at electricaid.org
where we will keep a watchful look on the future of electric car developments.