Conflicting statements have been made as to *why* Ford has chosen to discontinue
this program (or if they have... I think they want to announce the closing down
of the City line in Norway and have revealed this part of their hand, but have
backtracked slightly, for show in my opinion).
Ford's statements about a lack of demand, such as featured in this article, are
not the only thing. The lack-of-demand argument can be reasonably questioned,
if not fully rebutted, by the fact that the car has *never* been offered for
sale *anywhere* in the US. 1000 vehicles were *leased* at the very few
dealerships where they were made available, and there were waiting lists for the
upcoming replacements.
The other argument that Ford has offered is that they could not find a suitable
battery for the upgraded City which was to be here this fall. A Norwegian
Poster on the groups.yahoo board has done some research and says that it was
Ford Engineers who insisted on not looking into a non-lead-acid more advanced
battery, such as engineers at Th!nk in Norway wanted.
It is harder for me to examine and-or rebut Ford's claims that they made a good
look at potential batteries for this vehicle, since I know a lot less about such
batteries than those here. But I cannot see how so many of those here can
create highway capable apparently-safe EV's powered by lead-acid batteries (of
different sorts) and then Ford claims that a battery to do this for the Th!nk
cannot be found. Honestly, what am I missing here? Is it possible that they
actually made an effort and were unable to find a suitable battery to meet the
needs of the vehicle? It was to go 65 mph and have a range of something like 50
miles.
On Sun, 8 Sep 2002 22:22:20 -0700 (PDT), you wrote:
>EVLN(Media sops up Ford's u-turn)
>[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
> informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
> --- {EVangel}
>http://www.unison.ie/classifieds/motoring/
>Drivers switch off electric cars
>6th Sep 2002 - THE lack of interest and demand in electric
>cars has forced Ford to make a u-turn. It has abandoned
>production of its eco- friendly electric car due of lack of
>demand - particularly from America's gas guzzling public.
>-
