smart fortwo ed

Expert Rating:

Introduction

The Smart fortwo has always been pretty green, but even the new cdi diesel version we drove recently can't come close to matching this version's 300mpg capability. How? This fortwo is electrically powered, featuring a battery and electric motor where the petrol or diesel engine is usually positioned under the floor. So a Smart you power via a plug, now where did we put our extension lead?

What is it?

Thankfully you can unplug the smart ed (electric drive) before setting off. Four hours of juice from the three-pin is all you need for 80% charge, which should be enough for most urban drives, but for a full charge you'll need eight hours. That'll give you enough range to cover 70 miles - so long as you're not at a foot-to-the-floor kind of driver, or it's not too cold or too warm. Sadly this Smart ed isn't a production car yet (indeed it's based on the 'old' mkI car), but instead a run of 100 experimental cars that are being used to evaluate the technology for a future showroom model. You'll not get your hands on one then, unless you happen to work for one of the blue-chip companies or local authorities who are leasing them during the test period.

How does it drive?

The Smart ed drives very much like its Smart siblings, but with an electric motor. That's to say it's not really what you'd call brilliant, with the suspension crashy and the steering pretty lifeless. The ed does have an advantage over its conventionally petrol and diesel powered relatives - and it's not the lower centre of gravity and supposed sharper handling touted by Smart as a benefit. It's simply that the electric motor doesn't need gears, so its transmission is a single cog affair. That means the Smart ed loses the pitifully ponderous semi-auto shift and resultant head nodding that accompanies every swap of gear ratio in the regular models. That alone makes it a better car than its relatives to drive.

Add in the near silent electric motor, its almost instantaneous torque delivery and relatively brisk performance and the Smart ed is a very viable town car. It's not much use out of the city, not least because it's limited to 60mph, but simply because you'll soon run out of range. That remains the Smart ed's Achilles' heel; the need to charge it after every use. Ideally you'll not want a commute of more than 20-25 miles to the office to ensure you've enough power to get you back without plugging in. If not you'll suffer terribly from range anxiety, which will inevitably cause havoc with your otherwise smug demeanour that's impossible not to adopt when you're driving something so fantastically green.

Planet hugger or planet mugger?

The Smart ed is a real planet hugging type of car. It's always tricky to quantify an electric car's efficiency, but the Smart ed's 41bhp electric motor and batteries equivalent mpg is approximately 300mpg. Carbon dioxide - so long as you're using CO₂ neutral power sources like solar or wind - is nil, the Smart ed not featuring a tailpipe to exhaust the planet warming gas. Like all electric cars if you're less fussy about where you plug it in and use electricity sourced from a coal, gas or oil fired powerstation and provider then all you're doing is emitting CO₂ further down the line at source, albeit less than an equivalent car powered by an internal combustion engine.

Verdict

Still using sodium-nickel chloride batteries rather than the lithium ion batteries most of the newer electric cars feature, the Smart ed will be even better when it gets the latest battery technology. They're likely to feature in the eventual production model, which is anticipated to be the showroom in 2012. Expect it to come with better range, charging times and performance than the already impressive experimental Smart ed driven here. Really, it's the powertrain the Smart has been crying out for, electric drive and its compact city traffic dodging dimensions the perfect combination.

Kyle Fortune

Wednesday June 17