Murray’s latest electric offering

The Nissan Leaf, Think City Car and Tesla are probably some of the names that comes to mind when you think of electric vehicles. But now, a new name has been added to the growing list of ‘green players’ – an electric car called the T.27. Designed by Professor Gordon Murray, the T.27 was recently unveiled at the RAC, Pall Mall in London by his own company called Gordon Murray Design. Murray’s association and fascination with cars goes a long way back and he’s designed cars for Formula One in the past and is hailed for its landmark design achievement – McLaren F1 road car. The T.27 is a newer version of the T.25 which was shown about a year ago. Fractionally larger than its predecessor, the T.27 is 2.5 metres long and 1.3 metres wide. It can accommodate 3 adults while still having place for luggage. A 25 kW electric motor provides thrust, sourcing power from a 12kWh lithium-ion battery pack which weighs just about 129 kgs and can be recharged to 80 percent of its capacity in just 4-and-a-half hours. Murray says that the T-27 can cover a distance of 210 kms and can achieve a top speed of 105 kmph. Made typically for the urban city environment, the T.27 attracted an investment of £9 million which was partially raised through a £4.5 million investment from the government-backed Technology Strategy Board. The entire project took 17 months to be completed with the extended help of Zytek Automotive Ltd who provided the powertrain for the car.

Think Global in dire straits

Electric car manufacturer, Think Global, has yet again filed for bankruptcy in its home market of Norway. The announcement comes at a time when the automobile manufacturer was preparing to launch its range in the North American markets sometime later this year. In its history of 20 years, this is the fourth time that the company has run out of funds. In fact, there is speculation that there are strained relations between Think Global and Ener1, who supplies prismatic battery cells for Think City Car. As per Ener1, the electric vehicle manufacturer owes $35.4 million which could be recovered by liquidating the company’s assets. However, seeing the current situation of the global electric car market and the popularity of the Think City car, Turkey-based BD Otomotive has expressed its desire to retain the brand. According to rumors, the Turkish Auto group is already negotiating with Think! in order to buy out the company. BD Otomotive is also a distributor of Fisker Automotive’s plug-in hybrids and BYD plug-in cars in Turkey.