Plug-in smart for production

Not exactly an unusual sight on the roads of London during the last two years, Daimler's all-electric smart fortwo is scheduled to go into production at the smart factory in Hambach, France, from mid November this year.

Following two years of trialling 100 first-generation electrically powered smarts around London and environs, the second-generation all-electric version will be leased to customers on a four-years/60,000km basis around Europe and the USA for "intensive real-world testing in tough everyday conditions" prior to becoming generally available from 2012.

The second-generation smart electric drive has a more advanced drive using a lithium-ion battery that can be charged by connecting to a normal household powerpoint.

A full charge giving a range of around 115km requires an overnight plug-in, while a range of 30 to 40km can be achieved by charging for three hours, the company says.

The battery drives a rear-mounted, 30kW electric motor that punches out 120Nm of torque from zero rpm and, combined with the light weight of the little two-seater, "provides for good acceleration". The claim is the electric smart accelerates to 60km/h in 6.5 seconds -- the same as the petrol model. Maximum speed is limited to a city-appropriate 100km/h.

Daimler says lithium-ion batteries have "decisive advantages over other types of batteries including higher performance, shorter charging times, a long life and high reliability."

The smart fortwo also has the advantage of being designed with electric power in mind right from the beginning. There is room under the floor for the battery pack and the rear-mounted electric motor is positioned where the regular petrol engine normally resides. The result is that luggage and passenger space are exactly the same in either petrol or electric configuration.

Further space savings are made through the lack of a gearbox: the electric smart’s motor has no gearing and engages reverse by simply changing its direction of rotation.

The electric smart also provides heating and air-conditioning, although the latter requires careful management by cooling the interior during charge-up to minimise battery power loss out on the streets.

Daimler claims the electric smart returns -- on average German electricity prices -- better than the equivalent of 2.0L/100km.

Of further help to electric smart customers will be the tax credits being offered by many countries.

Importantly, the company stresses that the electric smart is a vehicle "with no local emissions". Where the power to charge the batteries comes from in the first place -- hydro, wind generators, coal -- determines its all-embracing, total emissions.

The electric smart’s lithium-ion battery pack is supplied by Tesla motors -- which builds the electric Tesla roadster claimed to be capable of better than 320km on a charge while accelerating like a Porsche --  in the USA.

Daimler AG took an equity stake of nearly 10 per cent in the US company earlier this year to form a strategic partnership seen as "an important step to accelerate the commercialisation of electric drives globally."

By the time of full-scale electric smart production in 2012, Daimler plans to equip all Smart and Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles with its own lithium-ion batteries produced through Deutsche Accumotive GmbH, a joint venture with Daimler AG and Evonik Industries AG, and based on a stockholding in German lithium-ion battery cell specialist Li-Tec.

Local Daimler spokesman Peter Fadeyev says the company's local arm has been working to secure it for the Australian market for several years. "We're looking on it as an important addition to the local catalogue -- we've been receiving a steady stream of enquiries about it pretty much since smart started trialling the first-generation of the electric drivetrain in London in November 2006."

While the car is slated for series production in November, it looks like a quite a wait before the Australian market gets a look in. "By current estimates we might be looking at 2012," says Fadeyev.

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