Official smart fortwo electric drive thread

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Real coasting, and Regen on the go-slower, along with essentially conventional hydraulic brakes. Good Work!

What 240v EVSE (3.3kW) will they be using?
Is it an alternative to the AV/Nissan EVSE?
 
Gary, you'll be able to use any EVSE with any EV provided they both support J1772.

I think in your case you'll want to import the portable EVSE that will come with the UK Leaf models, chop the plug off, and put one of the Tesla adapter kits on the end ;)

Sometimes I wonder if Nissan's US-spec portable EVSE will be 240V tolerant. It would not be difficult at all from a design standpoint.
 
I read that the smart will have a max speed of 60 mph. My 3 cylinder gas smart goes up to 100 mph, and gets nearly 50 mpg on the freeway (with a 65-70 mph speed limit) between Stockton and Sacramento. My husband uses the smart as his commuter car, so I'm wondering if an electric smart would be a more around-town vehicle given the max mph and range.
 
cinmar said:
I read that the smart will have a max speed of 60 mph. My 3 cylinder gas smart goes up to 100 mph, and gets nearly 50 mpg on the freeway (with a 65-70 mph speed limit) between Stockton and Sacramento. My husband uses the smart as his commuter car, so I'm wondering if an electric smart would be a more around-town vehicle given the max mph and range.

My wife drives our '08 smart fortwo passion coupe on short trips and it still gets low 40's mpg, we've also seen near 50 mpg on the highway but it's not meant to be a great long distance high speed runner - at the price they want for the ED (more than double the ICE version) this one doesn't appear to make a lot of sense (especially with the $599/mo lease). Most articles don't mention if smart, once 2012 rolls around and more are available that the price will go down but perhaps the 250 will simply go to fleets (like ZipCar) for urban use, not sure.

At the very least, they have one in production and it's made by a major mfg so I give them credit for trying! Perhaps our UK expert (MikeBoxwell) can shed some light on the acceptance in the UK -- seem to recall some trials of ED powered smarts in Europe.
 
I suspect this is just a CARB play just like the Mini-E. Purely to exploit the loopholes in the regulation rather than any real commitment.
 
Cute SOC meter.
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I stopped by the local Smart dealer yesterday as they showed having an ED on Smart's website. It was parked out front and for the 10 minutes I was looking it over nobody would even bother to give me the time of day (maybe because I was already driving an EV). It includes a green painted Clipper Creek 110/120V portable module, which was unboxed in the trunk as it has been used (no 240V station exists at this dealer).

LEAF meets Smart ED:
5486482113_3e14898b45_b.jpg


Window sticker - note the MSRP ($45,587... explains the high lease price):
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I'm surprised that the smart dealer had one not spoken for ... they are only leasing 250 nationwide at $599/mo for 48 months and had heard that the majority were already spoken for (primarily fleet purchases); none to be found between two Chicago area smart dealer's but looks like Milwaukee has them (probably just one). I guess you have to look at this as similar to the MINI E (which ran $850/mo and carried only two people as well due to the batteries taking up the back seats) which was a 'test' for only 450 customers in 3 states (CA, NY and NJ); no defending it but at least it's available now in the U.S. (smart did another test in the UK). Some pundits of the smart say it was always designed to be an EV but took this long to get the tech to work -- if they can get the price down closer to the ICE version I'm sure they would sell, how many is anyone's guess --- of course the smart doesn't have the same popularity of a MINI but looking at the basic cost of entry, $850 versus $599 is a pretty big difference! Will be interesting to see the blog's on the smart ED once more people actually get one -- we'll see if they are as passionate at the MINI E pioneers have been ...


CORRECTION -- the MINI E did start out at $850/mo but later was reduced to $600/mo; I think it was after a year into the program -- the next one I hear will be a BMW 1-series covered elsewhere on this forum.
 
Interesting that Smart ED is 38 kwh/100 miles. That is more than Leaf's 34 kwh/100 miles. So a larger, heavier Leaf is actually more efficient ?
 
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