Indiana nabs electric vehicle manufacturing facility and 400 new jobs

[wpsedgwick]

Source: Green Technology Daily

Think North America — a joint venture between Norwegian electric vehicle maker Think Global and U.S. venture firms Rockport Capital Partners and Kleiner Perkins — has just named Elkhart, Indiana as the location for its first U.S. manufacturing facility.

The Think City is an all-electric car that can go about 60 miles per hour and has a driving range of about 100 miles. It runs from lithium ion batteries supplied by EnerDel, which is based in Indiana.

According to a press release from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which helped lure the project with approval of an incentive package worth more than $3 million,


Read more: http://www.greentechnologydaily.com/auto/586-indiana-nabs-electric-vehicle-manufacturing-facility-and-400-new-jobs

[dmallind]

1. We don't make anything in the US any more according to DU doomers.

[bluestateguy]

2. I know

That argument about the US "not making things anymore" is a trite, pop-economics analysis with little foundation in reality.

We make plenty of things, though not the same things we did 50 years ago.

[jpak]

3. but...but..but..it's an evil foreign company!!111

They cannot be allowed to create US jobs!!!

Nosiree

[rfranklin]

4. Let's do a cost analysis of those jobs...

Politicians often give away the store to be able to say they "created" jobs for their country or state. Too many times the cost of these jobs far exceeds their benefit to the taxpayers. Of course there is too little information here to really know, but I'll betcha that is the case here too. Other wise, why would this company select this particular location?

[jpak]

5. Let's do

Show me the numbers...

:popcorn:

[rfranklin]

9. As I mentioned, the press release doesn't have the numbers...

and that is no surprise.

[dmallind]

11. Well at the most basic level

the article mentions $3m in incentives and 400 new jobs. That's pretty easy then to say $7500 per job.

[avaistheone1]

7. All the big bucks, the profits, leave the USA.

[dmallind]

12. Really? you know the details of the joint venture

between Norwegian and US companies regarding profit distribution, and the final provnenance of the battery supplier too?

And of course by that basis American companies outsourcing jobs and production overseas is OK as all the big profits come to the USA.

It has to work the same way surely? Either the jobs matter most or the profits do. Which one is it?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. "...why would this company select this particular location?"

From the story:

It runs from lithium ion batteries supplied by EnerDel, which is based in Indiana.

[Igel]

13. Not only is it an evil foreign company--

so that those on the right should run screaming from the room in horror at this story--but the American partners are (*gasp*) evil, nasty venture capitalists. So all those on the left should also run screaming from the room in horror at this story.

Then again, libertarians, upon seeing the tax credits, should also run screaming from the room in horror.

[dhpgetsit]

14. You can't deny that manufacturing is becoming a smaller part of our economy,

There is data available on the percentage of the GDP that comes from manufacturing if you want to study it.
You can also see that we have been importing more and more of the finished goods we consume, and at the same time we have been exporting more raw materials.

[dmallind]

16. Sure - and I have never disagreed with or ridiculed a post that said so

In fact I know full well that mfg is approx 12% of our economy. The manufacturing that remains is mostly in either commodities or high-technology (not necessarily electronic high tech) value added products like this car. We don't make too many T shirts or underpants any more. There is a reason for that - the value added is not sufficient to support American labor costs. We do however make a heck of a lot of highly engineered products, capital goods, software, medical devices, and so on, and remain by far the world's largets manufacturer (albeit only 3rd among exporters) with about $1.8T in annual output.

[dhpgetsit]

19. At some point in the Bush administration

I believe they decided to classify flipping burgers as manufacturing work too.

[dmallind]

23. Except I use UN numbers which are consistently applied to other countries

We are still the world's biggest manufacturer.

[dhpgetsit]

20. I don't blame American labor costs.

That's the Republican/Corporatist Democrat story.
I blame crappy trade policies.

[dmallind]

22. Then you are wrong

It is not "blame" and it is certainly not aimed at people who used to do the jobs but the truth remains that you cannot afford to produce low value high labor content products while paying high wages. The outcome would be products priced way beyond their value, and eventual bankruptcy. It's not trade policy that prevents people from seeing $15 tighty whities as a bad buy.

[fascisthunter]

6. the style of the car is a bit funky

I like it...

[WriteDown]

8. Its also made of plastic....

Hope it meets US safety guidelines which are far above European standards.

[tinrobot]

25. Ford already did the crash testing.

Ford crash tested them and produced about 1000 of them for the US before selling the business in 2003 -- when California changed it's pollution laws (the same law change that killed GM's EV1).

[Javaman]

10. Is this the car that is supposed to have a sticker price of 30-40k?

I love the fact that Indiana got the plant, but in this economy, who can afford this?

[WriteDown]

15. Same people who have their "hot grands in their hands" to buy this....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4210301&mesg_id=4210301

[dysfunctional press]

17. it looks a lot like a 'smart car', and it seems to be aimed at the urban market.

the name of the car is the 'think city'

http://thinkev.com/var/think/storage/images/press-pictures/picture-gallery/photos/th!nk-city-in-usa/th!nk-city-michigan-usa2/8338-3-eng-GB/TH!NK-city-Michigan-USA_imagelarge.jpg

their goals to keep the cost under $25K. and as part of that price, you're pretty much pre-paying the majority of your fuel costs- and your maintenance/repair costs should be MUCH less as well.

[tinrobot]

26. It also has a $7500 tax break.

So that $30k car suddenly becomes a $22.5K car.

[Capn Sunshine]

18. More green shoots

I know the "we're dooooooooooooooooomed" crowd still won't buy it.
But you just keep going ahead, chipping away at things. This is how the recession ends.

[provis99]

21. the Think is a damn fine car

a handful of Norwegians can come up with a good electric car, but GM, Chrysler, and Ford, with their thousands of engineers, can't do it?