Video: Test Driving an Electric Smart Car
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 07.25.08
Electric Smart Car on Guernsey
The limited range of an electric car might seem less limiting if you live on a 30 square miles island. That's the case for Mark Parr, an engineer who founded The Electric Vehicle Company with his brother to convert Smart cars to electric propulsion. They live on the island of Guernsey in the channel between France and England, and below you can see a video test-drive of their latest model.
Electric Smart Car Specifications
At first, they used lead acid batteries that gave the Smart EV a range of about 20 to 35 miles and a conversion cost of about £6,000 (though they say it would be cheaper with more volume), but the newest model uses lithium-ion batteries, has a range of about 60 miles, and can do 60 mph. How much does on of these babies cost? £15,000 ($30,000), or about twice what a regular Smart car would cost there. They estimate operating costs at about 1 penny a mile.
Official Smart EV Coming in 2010
We're reported that Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has announced an electric version of the Smart for 2010, and there are already 100 Smart EVs being tested in London.
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It seems everyone is releasing electric cars except Tesla these days!
"It seems everyone is releasing electric cars except Tesla these days! "
What's that then?
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/tesla-motors-starts-production-electric-roadster.php
Smart Car = Dumb Car.
Tiny range, prohibitive cost. What on earth are they thinking?
As for their ICE cars, the mileage isn't impressive at all and is easily surpassed by several 'normal' cars.
Look at what ford is doing with their latest economy diesel offerings in europe.
Smart Car = Dumb Car.
Daimler might as well give in and produce a Smart EV. This shows they are being converted in Europe, and Hybrid Technologies is converting them in North Carolina.
Daimler can't hardly say it can't be done OR that there's no demand. A lot of people are looking for relief from oil for whatever reason, and an available / affordable EV that had a little advertising to let the public know that EV's are here would go a long way to solving some of our transportation problems.
I think this is a great idea. I used to live in the Channel Islands, and this is the perfect type of car for them. It'd be awesome to see the islands get rid of gasoline engines entirely. I hope Mr. Parr does well and can get the costs down. Yes, it'd be better if the manufacturer made them available cheaply, but in the meantime this is a good step.
When people buy a new car, toss out the engine and replace it with something better, then they are really sending a message to the mfg.
It sounds like Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche listened. He announced an electric version of the Smart for 2010.
The DEMAND is out there.