The first takes the form of the City N1, which carries goods up to a maximum 237kg and 700 litres in volume, and is said to offer significant tax advantages in many markets.

The THINK Compact van follows later this year. The model offers an increased capacity of 900 litres and has been designed as part of a large tender for fleet sales to the French Government's UGAP programme. THINK adds that there have been several enquiries from potential Spanish customers and others already.

The manufacturer added that it is also looking at other variants.

Barry Engle, CEO THINK, said: 'We see great potential for a range of electric vans based on the THINK City. There are many customers for this type of vehicle, from city authorities to small businesses and postal deliveries.  These short-hop, urban journeys are perfect for vehicles such as ours. 

'Demand in this segment is increasing across the world, it is an area of the market that has yet to attract strong competition and could deliver valuable scale economies to a niche player like THINK.'

He added: 'We made huge progress in 2010 with the development of the THINK City, the start of production in the US, and entry into new markets.  We will step up the pace even further in 2011, developing THINK's appeal with products such as the delivery vans, building our distribution network and focusing more resources on sales and marketing to increase market penetration.'