Smart electric drive

The Smart fortwo electric drive (or smart ed) is a battery electric vehicle version of the Smart Fortwo micro car. This electric car was formerly known as Smart fortwo EV. Field testing began in London with 100 units in 2007, followed by Berlin in late 2009, and testing in the U.S. will begin in October 2010 with 250 units, which are part of 1,500 cars that will be tested in several European cities, Canada and selected markets in Asia.

Mass production is scheduled to begin in 2012 and it will be available in almost 40 Smart markets. The first Smart electric drive vehicles were modified by Zytek Electric Vehicles. It is powered by a rear-mounted motor driving the rear wheels. It runs on 13.2 kW·h of sodium-nickel chloride Zebra batteries. Field testing began in London with 100 vehicles in 2007 and was available only for lease to corporate clients for £375/month. Production of the second generation Smart fortwo electric drive began in November 2009 in Hambach, France. These use a lithium-ion battery from Tesla Motors with capacity of 14 kW·h. The range of a fully-charged battery is up to 135 kilometres (84 miles) (NEDC cycle). As part of a three phase roll-out program, phase two began with field testing in Berlin in December 2009 with 100 units out of 300 that will be deploy in Germany. For phase two 1,500 cars will be produced and field testing is scheduled to be conducted in Hamburg, Paris, Rome, Milan, Pisa, London and the Midlands, Madrid, Zurich, Portugal, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands during the first half of 2010. In October 2010, 250 units will be available for field testing in several cities in the U.S.; testing will also be conducted in Canada; and in 2011 in selected markets in Asia. Phase three will be mass production which is scheduled to begin with the 2012 model year. In the U.S. sales will begin in 2012 with the 2013 model year. There is also a Brabus-tuned concept car.