Local Zero-emission Driving Pleasure For Everyone: The New Generation Smart Fortwo Electric Drive

Local Zero-emission Driving Pleasure For Everyone: The New Generation Smart Fortwo Electric Drive

The third generation smart fortwo electric drive offers zero local-emission motoring with even more fun behind the wheel. Following the huge success of the second generation, electric mobility will soon be accessible to anyone interested. In the development of the new generation smart benefited from extensive experience and customer feedback gathered worldwide over the past few years. Driven by a battery supplied by the Daimler subsidiary Deutsche ACCUmotive for the first time the 55 kW electric motor passes the 120 km/h mark. From 0 to 100 km/h in less than 13 seconds - even driving on urban motorways is fun. The 17.6 kWh battery enables the lively city car to travel more than 140 kilometres in city traffic without producing any local emissions. A new sales model makes the introduction to electric mobility particularly attractive for customers: the sale&care model offers customers an opportunity to buy the vehicle at an attractive price and to lease the battery for a monthly fee.

For the further development of the smart fortwo electric drive the company was able to integrate extensive experience and customer feedback from various electric mobility projects. Ever since 1998 the smart has been revolutionising urban mobility like no vehicle before it. Compact, agile, environmentally friendly and stylish - it has evolved from a practical small car to a lifestyle product and has long become a familiar sight on the roads of cities around the world. With the introduction of the second generation in 2009 the smart fortwo electric drive was ready to take to the roads. The electrically driven avant-gardiste from Stuttgart was introduced in 18 markets. The objective of the second generation was to gather as much experience as possible about how customers use and charge electric vehicles. The huge demand exceeded all expectations. Instead of the planned 1000 vehicles more than 2000 smart fortwo electric drives were produced in Hambach. This means that smart has one of the largest fleets of electrically driven vehicles on the roads worldwide and a trove of customer experience and wishes that have been input in the third generation smart fortwo electric drive.

A higher top speed and better acceleration at speeds above 60 km/h were right at the top of the customers' list of priorities. However, contrary to prevailing opinion the range wasn't the crucial point from the perspective of the test customers. The vast majority of users confirmed the results of surveys which say that people drive approximately 30 to 40 kilometres per day on average in urban areas and they expressed great satisfaction with the range of their smart. From June the further developed smart fortwo electric drive will start winning wide-ranging buyers in more than 30 markets for its innovative and forward-looking drive concept. The third generation smart fortwo electric drive is equipped with a 55 kW magneto-electric motor - the first product from the EM-motive joint venture founded together with Bosch - which ensures that it is as agile and lively as ever. A battery supplied by the Daimler subsidiary Deutsche ACCUmotive is fitted in the new smart fortwo electric drive for the first time.

With capacity of 17.6 kWh the lithium-ion battery from the joint venture with Evonik Industries provides for more than 140 kilometres of pollutant-free driving fun. In addition to the higher battery capacity clear improvements have been made to the efficiency of the drive system, resulting in a greater range. When completely empty it takes a maximum of eight hours to fully charge the battery at a household socket or charging station on the electricity systems of most countries i.e. overnight. For the greater freedom of quick charging it is possible to optionally equip the vehicle with a quick-charging function. The 22 kW on-board charger enables a completely empty battery to be fully charged in less than an hour. A power cable is needed for this which is used to connect the vehicle to a public quick-charging station or a wallbox at home or work. SPX, one of the world's leading suppliers of technology solutions in the fields of energy and automotive as a global installation and service partner, and with KEBA, a specialist for innovative E-charging infrastructure and wallboxes.