Think City
Less than two months since Think exited bankruptcy, the Scandinavian electric vehicle maker has announced its new board of directors. The new Chairman, Reidar Langmo, is a founding partner and CEO of Novus Energy, an investment fund devoted to emerging companies in the "new energy" field. His experience in the solar industry also includes cofounding ScanWafer and the Renewable Energy Corporation.
“Our new Board brings together an outstanding balance of automotive, EV and clean-tech experts – a team with real hands-on experience in founding and growing successful businesses. It’s the ideal structure to help guide the company as it enters this phase of rapid growth, building on its leading market position in the European EV market, and simultaneously establishing its place in the US market,” said Langmo.
Langmo's new team consists of:
- Ken Baker, former Program Manager for General Motors Electric Vehicles (GMEV) and Vice President, GM Research and Development.
- Steinar Fossen, Investment Director, Investinor AS.
- Charles Gassenheimer, Chairman and CEO, Ener1 Inc.
- William E. “Wilber” James, Founder and Managing General Partner, RockPort Capital Partners.
- Ulrich Thum, former President and CEO of Fiat Group, Switzerland, and former Managing Director, BMW Greater China.
Richard Canny, who spent 25 years with Ford, will stay on as Think's CEO.
One of the revitalized EV company's first major tasks will be to deliver the 2,300 Think City two-seaters that have already been ordered. The highway-safe Think City has a top speed of 60 mph and a range of 112 miles. The car will be built by Valmet in Finland, the same company expected to produce the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid.
Source: Think
Press Release:
Think announces new Board of Directors
Think announces its new Board of Directors today. The Board brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from the highest levels of the clean-tech, EV and automotive fields to Think.
OSLO, Norway, 12 October 2009
The new leadership team will complement Think’s leading position in the EV sector, and by guiding a rapid European and global expansion, will consolidate the company’s place as one of the first and only manufacturers with a ready-to-market full battery electric vehicle – the award-winning Think City.
The Board will be led by Chairman, Reidar Langmo, a veteran of the global renewable energy industry. Reidar is founding partner and CEO of Novus Energy Partners and was one of the founders of ScanWafer and the Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) – now among the world’s largest integrated solar companies. As Chairman and CEO of REC, he played a key role in REC’s strategic acquisitions of Komatsu’s silicon plants, and in 2006, achieved the most successful clean energy IPO to date, with a market capitalization for REC of over $8 billion.
Reidar says: “Our new Board brings together an outstanding balance of automotive, EV and clean-tech experts – a team with real hands-on experience in founding and growing successful businesses. It’s the ideal structure to help guide the company as it enters this phase of rapid growth, building on its leading market position in the European EV market, and simultaneously establishing its place in the US market.”
The Board members are (in alphabetical order):
- Ken Baker, former Program Manager for General Motors Electric Vehicles (GMEV) and Vice President, GM Research and Development. Ken is widely known for his key leadership role in GM’s pioneering EV1 project, and was also founding chairman of the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC). He brings unique experience in commercialisation of volume production EVs to Think, gained over several decades in the automotive and EV sectors.
- Steinar Fossen, Investment Director, Investinor AS. Steinar represents the Norwegian Government’s venture capital fund, Investinor. He was co-founder of three successful Norwegian venture start-ups, and has held senior consulting, transaction advisory and international corporate sales and marketing positions. He now directs Investinor’s investments in maritime and technology-based sectors.
- Charles Gassenheimer, Chairman and CEO, Ener1 Inc. Since 2006, Charles has shepherded automotive lithium-ion battery producer Ener1 through a period of rapid growth, the development of innovative partnerships, and building out the production capacity and market strength to match the company’s class-leading battery systems technologies. Charles will guide the Think/EnerDel partnership for EV power-train supply.
- William E. “Wilber” James, Founder and Managing General Partner, RockPort Capital Partners. A leading figure in the venture capital world, Wilber leads the $850m RockPort venture capital fund and was founder of Citizens Power and Light, the United States’ first electricity trading company. Wilber’s hands-on experience in guiding the growth of technology companies has been proven over four successful decades in the business.
- Ulrich Thum, former President and CEO of Fiat Group, Switzerland, and former Managing Director, BMW Greater China. Ulrich’s extensive marketing and sales background covers Europe, the Middle East and Asia across the BMW, Alfa Romeo and Fiat brands. A member of the Board of Valmet Automotive, Ulrich brings more than two decades of automotive experience to Think.
Think’s day-to-day operations will continue to be led by CEO, Richard Canny – a motor industry veteran with 25 years previous experience at Ford Motor Company. He has held key international leadership roles across every major motor manufacturing continent, with positions including President, Ford South America and Director of Strategic Planning for Ford globally.
Richard said: “The newly formed board concludes an important phase of re-structuring for Think. Our focus now is to build on the foundations recently completed with the $47m capital raise, the strategic alliance in Europe with Valmet Automotive for manufacturing engineering, production and further product development, our new partnership with Ener1 Inc for supply of ‘plug and play’ EV power-trains, and importantly, the growing order bank of over 2,300 for the Think City.”
