Official smart fortwo electric drive thread

[redLEAF]

An oldie (posted Dec '12) but a goodie ... sound clip of the smart electric drive "Pedestrian warning sound (code B53)” the 4th imbedded wav file in the article below

http://www.smartusainsider.com/profiles/blogs/the-ed3-and-me-sound-box?xg_source=activity

Some who've tested the Ed find this annoying but unless it's much worse than this sounds in person, no worse than our LEAF's ... seeing a few new owners on other forums but numbers still quite small

 

[GRA]

From insideevs.com:

Take rate of battery lease is about 90% (53/60):

http://insideevs.com/smart-talks-electric-drive-with-us/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[redLEAF]

Single speed trans ... smooth! plus a car that talks back (not quite Mr. Ed ... get it?)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhstXUjPQk[/youtube]

 

[redLEAF]

Let's take (a looong) drive ...


"Published on May 26, 2013 -- This video was taken the first day after we picked up the first electric drive Smart car sold by the West Covina Smart Center. Amazingly the tiny little electric drive made through Glendale and all the way to the very top of the Mt. Wilson (including the extra 6 miles to the transmitters). It used 60% of it's charge getting up the mountain, but managed to recharge itself to 45% on the way down. It's truly a fantastic car and this video proves it's more than capable of all the fun trips and adventures that the gas models are!

One of the major negatives that we keep hearing regarding the ED Smart is lack of range. When driven sensibly, it can go up to ninety-one miles on a charge. Naturally, we like to push the limits, so on our first day of having Hopper, we took her from Glendale to the top of Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest. The drive was approximately sixty-five miles round trip and half of it is a hard climb. We mounted a GoPro to the interior of the car, so that you can see the dials during the drive. The video is nearly an hour and a half, but the camera battery died before we could finish our run. We started with a full charge and returned with slightly over forty percent left. Admittedly, we were worried when we were just over thirty-five percent when we reached the top of Mt. Wilson, however we charged on the way down and ended overall gaining a charge! We really didn't know what to expect with this run, but we were very pleased with the results."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEfhYmRikGA[/youtube]

 

[LeftieBiker]

We started with a full charge and returned with slightly over forty percent left. Admittedly, we were worried when we were just over thirty-five percent when we reached the top of Mt. Wilson, however we charged on the way down and ended overall gaining a charge!

See that flashing red light in your rear-view mirror? Better pull over - it's the Physics Police. Seems you've violated the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and the universe doesn't take kindly to that...

 

[Deleted member 9549]

We started with a full charge and returned with slightly over forty percent left. Admittedly, we were worried when we were just over thirty-five percent when we reached the top of Mt. Wilson, however we charged on the way down and ended overall gaining a charge!

See that flashing red light in your rear-view mirror? Better pull over - it's the Physics Police. Seems you've violated the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and the universe doesn't take kindly to that...

I don't see any violation. He was at 35% at the top of the mountain. High potential energy, used to charge the battery back up ending at a lower elevation at 40%. He started the trip at 100%. No violation.

 

[LeftieBiker]

We started with a full charge and returned with slightly over forty percent left. Admittedly, we were worried when we were just over thirty-five percent when we reached the top of Mt. Wilson, however we charged on the way down and ended overall gaining a charge!

See that flashing red light in your rear-view mirror? Better pull over - it's the Physics Police. Seems you've violated the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and the universe doesn't take kindly to that...

I don't see any violation. He was at 35% at the top of the mountain. High potential energy, used to charge the battery back up ending at a lower elevation at 40%. He started the trip at 100%. No violation.

It's the " ended overall gaining a charge!" that would be impossible. He gained back some fraction of what he used to climb the mountain, but it has to be less than all of it, and can't be more than what he used to climb it.

 

[RonDawg]

I think what that person meant by "gaining a charge" is that he was able to get enough regen on the steep descent (Mt. Wilson is at a 5700' elevation) to actually be noticeable on the car's battery level meter, and not that he gained more energy coming down the hill than he used going up it. He admitted he only got 5% in regen but used 65% getting there.

 

[redLEAF]

smart / Mercedes Benz -- St. Charles, IL


Confirmed with a sales rep today that smart / Mercedes Benz has two smart electric drives set to go to production for them on September 5 and ETA to Chicago the first week in October ... neither is committed to a customer (as of today). Rep also said that they can start taking orders but no discounts as of today -- they had a $1,000 smart loyalty one but the Ed is excluded plus you need to take delivery in the month the program was offered (expires June 30th).

Another Chicago area smart dealer (Loeber in Lincolnwood, IL) has also said that they'll carry the Ed but limited quantities, etc.

So, I plan to wait to hear from the dealer closest to me (St. Charles) once they land at the dealership --- interestingly enough, on the edmunds site they already show a TMV (true market value) of more than $1K off list so will be curious once we get closer to them actually being here in Chicago how true that is.

As the initial 'novelty' of owning an EV is something where I don't need to buy the first one that arrives this time, we'll wait until we can take a decent test drive and go from there -- still waiting to hear back from the IL EPA on their 10% of MSRP rebate anyway.

The smart dealer rep was at least responsive enough to get back to me, seemed knowledgeable enough so we'll see where this goes ... the Midwest is typically among the last to get these so didn't really expect it sooner that this or for that matter any of the strictly zero emissions states cars like the 500e (rumored to be sold out already?), Rav4 EV, etc. The smart also has that whole battery 'rental' thing going on which hopefully by October will become clearer ... looks like in Europe at least 97% 'rent' the battery but having an annual $960/yr ($80/mo) to keep it fresh is something I'd need to work out the math on -- plus when selling one who would want that in addition to 'buying' the car, just as a concept I'm having trouble with it but then, almost all the cars I've ever purchased over the years were straight cash deals.

 

[redLEAF]

well, that cleared that up (quick video on regen braking pedals ...)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MkBjOOjYyY[/youtube]

 

[redLEAF]

So 60 in May (partial month selling opportunity as only available for the last two weeks of May) and 53 in June ... not all that bad with limited area they are available plus ...

http://insideevs.com/june-2013-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/

"During the interview Mr. Webster said he expected the smart to stay around the 60 units per month sold until it goes nation-wide in October. Mark also confirmed there will be a “next generation” of smart EDs when the entire platform gets a upgrade next year."

(just one possibility ...)

 

[GRA]

ABG reports that Smart is now offering ED leases for $139/month:

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/08/04/smart-forwto-ed-lease-drops-to-just-139-month/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[redLEAF]

... and that's all we get until 2015; new one still might look a bit like this (image a littel more refined than posted earlier but about the same) ... the $139/lease is supposed to include the battery 'rental' aspect but lots of debate until verified by the smart dealer's as to what you get, etc.

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.d...rt-fortwo-is-still-2-years-away#axzz2b6YqEt5V

 

[GRA]

From insideevs.com, further details on how you get the $139/month lease, or buy for $23,000:

http://insideevs.com/smart-quietly-makes-the-electric-drive-available-from-23000-or-139-leases/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[GRA]

About 15 years ago I spent a week driving a Think City pre-production BEV in the Bay Area. Part of my feedback on that car was regarding the price. They were looking to sell it for maybe $15k (no subsidies then). I said that I couldn't see people buying one for more than $10k, $12k at the outside. And now here's Smart, announcing that you can buy one for $13k (after Fed and Ca. subsidies). Given inflation and the fact that the Smart is a far more refined car than the Think City was, I think we've now reached the point where the average urban person can justify buying one. And they can certainly justify leasing one for $139/month.

 

[MrX]

After 3 months of placing an order finally got my smart ED


It has Regen Paddles (must have), LED Daytime Running Lights (must have), Ambient Lights and Leather Seats with Seat Heaters











its replacing my gas smart, loving every second in it, very quick and super fun to drive, gets a lot of attention too, already got several thumbs up and people taking pics of it while driving


had it at 82 on the freeway for a little today but the battery started to drain noticeably, charged at the Blink charger at Jans Marketplace in Thousand Oaks and a Leaf was parked next to me charging


if anyone is wanting to get a 2nd, 3rd or 4th EV then this is definitely the one to consider, you will not regret it


now i havent completely ran the battery down yet but per full charge it shows a 70 mile range and with the regen paddles im sure i can easily get 80-90+, one guy in canada got 103 miles on a charge... crazy

 

[redLEAF]

smart sold 3X what they expected for the month of August ... 182 as well as a total of 993 total smarts for the month; the Ed representing a little over 18% of monthly sales !!! I'm sure the incentives helped ...

http://insideevs.com/august-2013-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/

Also, it means that the little Ed beat out ...
The Ford Focus EV; Fiat 500e; Chevy Spark: Honda Fit EV and Mitsu 'i' for the month ... pretty amazing as even the smart exec's said that they only expected to sell about 60 per month ...

http://www.hybridcars.com/august-2013-dashboard/

Still hoping that these will show up in the Midwest next month but rumors of a delay until 2014 are still floating around ... the autotrader site isn't showing any 'in stock' less than about 600 miles from me yet so we'll see (as folks know the site shows in bound cars already pre-sold as well as inventory).

 

[RonDawg]

Honda has supposedly only announced 1100 Fit EVs for 2013 so it's not going to beat any sales records, except for perhaps in how fast they sold once Honda announced their latest unlimited mileage lease offer. I understand that almost all have been spoken for.

I don't know how many EVs Chrysler/Fiat have to make to meet CARB ZEV requirements, but considering their CEO's hostility to the program, I bet you won't see them making any more than they absolutely have to.

Any new Mitsubishi iMiEVs you see at dealers are technically leftover 2012 models. Even Mitsubishi USA's website does not refer to a 2013 iMiEV.

 

[AndyH]

Stumbled on this doc. Maybe not much new, but an interesting look at who MB-Canada thinks their target market is and how to sell to them, if nothing else.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=FBDqEQm0bz2P6wniKG8pHQ&bvm=bv.52434380,d.aWM

2013 smart fortwo electric drive
Launch Information Kit: July Update

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the link.

I guess I match the #1 buyer profile, as this is a second car for my commute, our primary vehicle is used by wife for daily errands and long trips.

I forgot they offered heated seats standard, looking forward to that for the winter.

The MSRP of the Volt and Leaf are not representative of the deep discounts being offered recently, although those discounts are not as common here in Canada...