Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

ENERGY

Think owners in year-long parts wait

Once the firm that fuelled dreams of a Norwegian auto industry, Think electric cars have begun to stack up at the few mechanic’s shops able to service them due to a spare parts shortage.

Published: 10 November 2011 12:28 CET
Updated: 10 November 2011 14:57 CET
Think owners in year-long parts wait
Photo: Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz

Up to 30 percent of the 2,000-odd models produced have suffered breakdowns of a key power-control unit, or PCU. The car’s lithium-ion battery is powerless to recharge without the PCU, and the plant that made them shut its doors in Finland in June.

Vinjes Bilverksted, a garage in Trondheim, has had cars in waiting for parts in the lot for over a year, Addresseavisa reported. The newspaper’s own Think was in for repair.

Together with REC — Norway’s other great green hope — Think was recently the pride of the country's renewable energy industry.

The hope of Think's owners now lies with Electric Mobility Solutions AS. The company bought Think Global of Oslo in July, just months after Think’s fourth bankruptcy filing in 20 years.

Despite the company's jittery finances, production is set to start up again in 2012.

Founded in Oslo in 1991, Think survived beyond 2000 with help from buyer Ford and now subsides on Oslo-based finance supporting US production and Norwegian R&D.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

Published: 16 February 2024 10:45 CET
France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

SHOW COMMENTS