Mumbai: Norwegian automaker Think Global plans to mass market low-priced electric cars in the US, possibly by the year-end.

The battery-powered `Think City' will be able to run up to 110 miles (177 km) on a single charge, with a top speed of about 65 mph (104 km), the company said. The car will be priced below $25,000.

Think City, currently being manufactured in Norway, is about the size of a Toyota Yaris or Honda Fit and runs on sodium or lithium batteries. The two-seater has an option to add two more seats for children up to 14 years of age.

The Oslo-based car maker has tied up funds with venture capital firms RockPort Capital Partners and Kleiner, Perkins and Caufield & Byers for investments in a US venture - Think North America. (See:Norwegian electric car company Think forms JV with US clean tech investors, Kleiner Perkins and RockPort Capital)

Think North America, the new joint venture of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture capital firms,  hopes to sell as many as 50,000 electric cars in America beginning late next year.

To be based in Menlo Park, California, Think North America will bring together Kleiner with clean technology-focused venture capital firm RockPort Capital Management and the Norwegian electric car maker Think Global.

"In a couple of years, we hope to be selling up to 50,000 cars per year," said Ray Lane, a Kleiner managing partner and chairman of Think North America.

The joint venture will first introduce `Think City', an emission-free, 95 per cent recyclable car with a maximum speed of 65 miles an hour, possibly by next year, in the US.

Think City's battery now takes about three hours to recharge if plugged in daily, or eight hours if the battery is drained.

The company is negotiating with US utility companies to set up fueling stations to charge the cars, following similar models in Europe, executives said without disclosing details.

Ford Motor Co, the longtime owner of Think, sold it in 2003 to Norweigan investors two years ago, who began selling cars in Norway this year, with sales in Sweden, Denmark and Britain expected this year. The company said its annual production capacity in Europe is 10,000 vehicles.

Think City will compete with Toyota Motor Corp's popular Prius hybrid. It would also compete with Tesla Motors' high-profile `Roadster', the all-electric luxury sports car also made in Silicon Valley that began regular production last month after several delays.

Telsa claims more than 1,000 orders for its$100,000 Roadsters.

Battery-operated vehicles have so far remained a niche product after California reversed a zero-emission norms for vehicles from the 1990s, following which major car makers scrapped experimental programmes such as General Motors Corp's EV1.

California was recently forced to cut the number of zero-emission vehicles required between 2012 and 2014 by 70 per cent to 7,500, a signaling technology lag in the largest US car market. 

While most automakers are focusing on hybrid technology, a handful, including Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motor Co, have announced plans to produce all-electric cars. Mitsubishi's MiEV is set to go on sale in Japan next year.

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