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For those who plan to go to the Chicago Auto Show, smart has a Cabrio electric drive car on display!!

The smart rep talked to my wife at the show while my son and I checked out the modest display (as always ... never a big splash!).

Anyway, my wife mentioned that we own an older gas-powered one and were quite interested in the electric drive version so she was offered a $500 Chicago Auto Show discount towards a new one that we already got the email on thanks to her registering us; interestingly enough the 'coupon' disclaimer says:

"This offer is not valid on previous purchases and electric drive pre-registration."

So I would guess walk-in's only ? Loved the gray matte finish on one of the display cars and the mini-display did seem to get a number of people looking that had never heard of a smart so we chatted up a few who were the more interested ... some of course mocked the small size, etc. but several were enthusiastic.

My personal web site is having a few issues with the service provider so photos will need to come later ... the best news the rep told us is that the electric drive should be coming to Chicago in April so we'll see. One or two other things I noticed is that they still do smaller front/larger rear tires (155's on front, 175's on rear) and this Cabrio had a weird looking piece on the roof, too small for a wind spoiler as well as an antenna but will hopefully be able to post photos soon as well as over on the more mainstream smart forums for feedback ... ours is an '08 non-Cabrio (full pano roof) so perhaps this new thingie came along afterwards.

The smart rep also specifically mentioned about the 10% MSRP IL EPA rebate so perhaps smart was proactive with our state EPA on getting the electric drive model added to the eligible list so will contact my IL EPA rep to check that as well; of course being 100% electric it qualifies for the $7,500 Fed Tax Credit.

The charge port 'door' as already shown in other photos, is exactly where (passenger side rear) the gas filler door goes and it does indeed 'lock' the actual connector cover (could not unlatch it on the show model) so this location actually works to our advantage where our L2 charger is in the garage and where the smart will get typically parked for charging alongside our LEAF; no quick charge port like all the Fords' and Volt either but that's OK with us.

This You Tube video shows them making smart electric drive's bound for the USA:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P17nS3XMxkw[/youtube]
 
First contest I've seen where you can win a smart electric drive (3 year lease) plus a solar recharging station which is pretty cool ... only negative I see is that it's limited to who all can enter ... as I don't personally live in any of those states I'm out. Have often thought of adding solar panels to offset my electricity cost but being in the Midwest as well as house facing the wrong way and the looong payback I'll stick to my soon to be new 4.96 cents/kWh fixed rate which isn't 'free' but not bad ...

"The sweepstakes is open to residents of CA, CO, CT, MA, NJ, and VT age 21+, and runs through September 30, 2013 at 6:00pm PDT."

2-14-2013%207-31-21%20AM.jpg


http://blog.realgoods.com/real-goods-solar-smart-electric-sweepstakes/
 
redLEAF said:
First contest I've seen where you can win a smart electric drive (3 year lease) plus a solar recharging station which is pretty cool ... only negative I see is that it's limited to who all can enter ... as I don't personally live in any of those states I'm out. Have often thought of adding solar panels to offset my electricity cost but being in the Midwest as well as house facing the wrong way and the looong payback I'll stick to my soon to be new 4.96 cents/kWh fixed rate which isn't 'free' but not bad ...

"The sweepstakes is open to residents of CA, CO, CT, MA, NJ, and VT age 21+, and runs through September 30, 2013 at 6:00pm PDT."

2-14-2013%207-31-21%20AM.jpg


http://blog.realgoods.com/real-goods-solar-smart-electric-sweepstakes/


Thanks for that. I entered. I think we've got enough solar on our one house, but we could do with a small system on the other.
 
waitingforaleaf said:
Appreciate the sweepstakes notice as well. Hope it will actually be fruitful and not just the standard spam fest.
Unless things have really changed there, Real Goods is a good company. John Schaeffer is still apparently President, and he's been doing AE longer than just about anybody - see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Schaeffer_%28environmentalist%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I got my first Real Goods catalog in the late '80s, and then became a friendly (and very minor) competitor. There really weren't a lot of people looking to get rich in the AE business back then - the field was so small that everybody knew everybody else, and almost all of us were in it for ideological reasons. Many of us may have been pretty poor business people (not John), but there were very few scam artists, who were quickly found out and ostracized.
 
At about 22,500 with federal rebate, the Leaf S just seems like a much better deal on a significantly more capable vehicle...


...The best part of the electric ForTwo’s pricing, is that it does NOT include the $7,500 federal rebate, which the Smart fully qualifies for with its 17.6 kWh battery, making the car effectively $17,500...
 
Got this little direct mail piece from smart while away on vacation, it included a little smart electric drive USB (see photo) ... 2,800 miles unfortunately means the LEAF stayed home and my 'other' car was used. In any case; here is a photo of the direct mail piece and smart's expected smart phone application of finding EVSE's (not of course unique to the smart); still nothing from my local Chicago area dealer(s) but saw a blog where someone from Canada did place an order and is expecting their car in April, as others have already said, I think that smart will be challenged by the '13 LEAF SV with only a $3,800 price difference so we'll have to see how this effects sales in the monthly numbers as the February 2013 dashboard shows 1 more smart electric drive sold bringing YTD to 2 cars !!:

WP_000133B.jpg


smart%20PlugShare%20Instructions.jpg


http://www.hybridcars.com/february-2013-dashboard/
 
... added this here but it's still the overseas folks, just a dash cam as well as believe this shows KPH's, car is very, very, quiet but then those who have yet to drive ANY EV can attest to that:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzh_IaBhNH4[/youtube]
 
Reviving this thread. Smart ED3 is a reality, coming to my local dealer April 1, 2013. It is significantly improved over its last version and will be for sale for $25000. Appreciate comments/comparisons with Leaf.
 
redLEAF said:
Got this little direct mail piece from smart while away on vacation, it included a little smart electric drive USB (see photo) ... 2,800 miles unfortunately means the LEAF stayed home and my 'other' car was used. In any case; here is a photo of the direct mail piece and smart's expected smart phone application of finding EVSE's (not of course unique to the smart); still nothing from my local Chicago area dealer(s) but saw a blog where someone from Canada did place an order and is expecting their car in April, as others have already said, I think that smart will be challenged by the '13 LEAF SV with only a $3,800 price difference so we'll have to see how this effects sales in the monthly numbers as the February 2013 dashboard shows 1 more smart electric drive sold bringing YTD to 2 cars !!:

WP_000133B.jpg


smart%20PlugShare%20Instructions.jpg


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

You mean this (above)? I believe smart sent this out to those who've signed up for updates in the past ... I got two myself as we've got two smart dealers close by, in other forums we've got two folks (one from Canada and one from CA) that are among the first in line to get a Gen III electric drive in early spring but not much else in the way of news.
 
Just got notification of a test drive tour beginning in LA on April 19th. Looks like there are 11 events in all in the following locations...

Los Angeles
Portland
San Francisco
San Diego
Dallas
Atlanta
Miami
Washington DC
Hoboken
Brooklyn
Chicago

Details here (you'll probably need a FB account to sign up):

http://www.facebook.com/smartusa/events?utm_campaign=ecrm_newsletter&utm_source=ecrm_newsletter_Apr2013&utm_medium=ecrm&utm_content=module1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
let us know when they start the registration for test drives....i don't have facebook. but I am on their mailing list, so I'll probably be notified that way anyhow.
 
mwalsh said:
Just got notification of a test drive tour beginning in LA on April 19th. Looks like there are 11 events in all in the following locations...

Los Angeles
Portland
San Francisco
San Diego
Dallas
Atlanta
Miami
Washington DC
Hoboken
Brooklyn
Chicago

Details here (you'll probably need a FB account to sign up):

http://www.facebook.com/smartusa/events?utm_campaign=ecrm_newsletter&utm_source=ecrm_newsletter_Apr2013&utm_medium=ecrm&utm_content=module1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Can view it but not 'register' as I don't do facebook either ... they've done these before with the ICE version so would imagine it would be a similar venue ... several months out for us (right after 4th of July) for Chicago, thanks for the link!
 
Smart Fun Test Drive tour registration begins:

http://smartcarfundrive.com/testdrive?utm_campaign=2013_Brand_Tour&utm_source=Generic_Wave1&utm_medium=ecrm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Signed up. Wonder if they'll let me charge while I'm test driving. I chose Tuesday (the 23rd), if anyone wants to meet up (I work the weekend prior), let me know.
 
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