At the Paris Motor Show, Smart introduced the next generation zero-emission Smart Electric Drive, which will be made available in all three variants - Smart Fortwo Electric Drive, Smart Fortwo Cabrio Electric Drive and Smart Forfour Electric Drive.
All three models of electric Smart are equipped with 17,6 kWh Lithium-Ion batteries ensuring a range of about 160 kilometers. With separately excited three-phase synchronous 60 kW electric motor and torque of 160 Newton metres, all three Smart Electric Drive variants can speed up to 130 kph. Smart Fortwo Electric Drive accelerates to 100 kph in 11.5 seconds, Smart Fortwo Cabrio Electric Drive requires 11.8 seconds to reach that same speed, while Smart Forfour Electric Drive does it in 12.7 seconds.
Charging batteries from 20 per cent to 100 per cent capacity using an ordinary household socket takes about 6 hours in Europe and 13 hours in the US. Charging with Wallbox in Europe will take a little over 3.5 hours, while in the UK and the US about an hour less. With the new, particularly powerful 22 kW fast charger that becomes available in 2017, Smart will be charged in as little as 45 minutes.
While driving Smart Electric Drive, you needn't shift gears, because it only has one gear, making the ride more pleasant in a heavy traffic environment, so the car is quite perfect for urban use. Next to basic transmission mode, the driver can opt for the ECO mode with limited maximum speed, the accelerator pedal curve adjusted and the maximum recuperation level is pre-selected. Helpful with that is also a radar sensor that monitors the traffic and radar-based recuperation, meaning recuperation level is adjusted to fit the current situation.
To further save energy and extend the range, the smart electric drive also come with a pre-entry climate control, cooling the interior of the vehicle to the desired temperature while the vehicle is still charging at a socket.
The owner is given the opportunity to monitor and control his or hers electric Smart via smartphone, while the interior of the car is equipped with additional instruments, displaying current working of the powertrain.
The smart fortwo electric drive models are series produced at smart's Hambach plant (France), while smart forfour electric drive is produced at the Novo Mesto site (Slovenia).
Recommended retail prices for the electric Smarts in Germany include Fortwo for €21,940, Fortwo Cabrio for €25,200 and Forfour for €22,600.