Norwegian energy company Eidsiva Energy buys a plug-in hybrid and a few Think City electric cars

Hedmark county in Norway, where Eidsiva is located.

There are at least two articles (here and here) on this in the Norwegian press that I found when looking for recent news on Norway's Think. The company has bought a plug-in hybrid which is a specially adapted Toyota Prius, as well as either three or four (says three in one part of the article, four a few paragraphs down) Think Cities. This is part of the company's "environmental offensive".

On the main car:

The car reduces gasoline usage to 0.25 litres per mile, and halves gasoline usage in comparison to today's most efficient cars. While today's cars use 80 percent of their energy to create heat and 20 percent to drive the car, the numbers are the opposite of this with the new car.

And:

Eidsiva has also bought four Think City cars, which could be used by employees to go between cities in the region.

I'm always happy to see new orders for Think's cars as they have a very impressive product but are still in a bit of financial limbo and need every bit of good news they can get. From what I've seen the Think City is the only electric car that not only looks okay and has a good enough top speed and range, but also doesn't cost a mint to buy. Tesla's cars are still too expensive and most other electric car manufacturers somehow succeed in making them look like toys or weird concept cars that honestly would be a bit embarrassing to drive in person.

Also in related news, the UK government is going to offer incentives of about $9,000 (£5,000 ) to buyers of these electric or plug-in hybrid cars starting in 2011. This is right around when Tesla's new sedan will be coming out (although I think sales to other countries will start one year after that).

You can also see an article submitted here to the Guardian today by Elon Musk of Tesla (and SpaceX).