Four Indianapolis Power & Light Company (IPL) employees are among the first customers in the U.S. to own and drive THINK City pure electric cars.
Their cars were among 17 THINK City electric cars delivered to utility fleet customers and employees in Indiana. Duke Energy in Plainfield, Ind. received 10 electric THINK City cars, and the remainder were delivered to Indianapolis Power & Light for company fleet use.
Establishing residual values for batteries is an important industry issue, because batteries contribute significantly to the overall cost of electric vehicles. When advanced Lithium-ion batteries are no longer fit for automotive use, they still may be able to store 70 – 80 percent of their original energy capacity making them useful for grid applications such as back-up energy storage.
THINK is working with Duke, IPL and the Energy Systems Network (ESN) to collect data on the deployment and use of electric cars as part of Project Plug-IN.
THINK has contracted with Tom Wood Automotive in Indianapolis to support the sale and service of THINK City electric cars in the metropolitan area.
By early 2011, Project Plug-IN will place 100 or more electric vehicles and supporting charging infrastructure with government and corporate fleets, as well as selected individual commuters, across the Indianapolis metropolitan area.
