The Smart ForTwo Electric (aka Smart Electric Drive) is arguably the cheapest electric car on the market. Obviously, though, it’s only practical for so many people. Daimler is soon going to unveil an updated version of the tiny electric car, but it will also roll out an electric version of the Smart ForFour.
The new electric Smart ForTwo and Smart ForFour, though, have been developed in partnership with the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Alliance, and Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, sat down for a chat at the Frankfurt Motor Show this week and reaffirmed the plan for those electric cars to roll out in 2016.
Both vehicles will be fitted with an electric motor produced by Renault’s Cléon plant in France, the same one used in the Renault ZOE. The battery of the new smart electric drive will be produced by the Daimler subsidiary, “Deutsche ACCUmotive,” in Kamenz, Germany.
When the Daimler-Alliance partnership was launched in April 2010, the scope of the original collaboration was limited to three projects, primarily in Europe. Since then, the combined portfolio shared between the partners has more than quadrupled to 13 projects in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Renault-Nissan is certainly one of the prime leaders in the electric vehicle transition, while Daimler has been a bit slow on its game. The Smart Electric Drive may be cheap, but it hasn’t been very competitive in recent years, and work to push it out to more buyers doesn’t seem to be happening very broadly. We’ll have to wait to see how serious Daimler is about selling the new electric versions of the Smart ForTwo and Smart ForFour.
Related: Why I Sold My Camaro, & Bought A Smart Electric Car
You say the “Smart Electric Drive may be cheap, but it hasn’t been very competitive in recent years”, yet I can’t find any EV version of the Smart car on their web site. Was it only available in limited numbers/limited markets or something?
I’m really not a fan of the car. It’s the only US/European EV (that’s not a golf cart) that I’ve driven and wouldn’t recommend to someone.
Finding EVs on Daimler sites seems to be a chore. I was struggling to find some PHEVs on the German Mercedes site yesterday. Was like an interactive game of “Where’s Waldo?” 😛
I called a local (Florida) Smart dealer a few years ago to try to get more info on the price of a Smart ED with the battery purchased vs leased. The guy didn’t really know anything about the car. And didn’t even know if they’d be getting any.
I’m hugely thankful Daimler saved Tesla, but am otherwise not at all impressed with the company. Barely snuck into #10 on this list: https://evobsession.com/ranking-automakers-on-their-electric-commitment-top-10-list/
I was eagerly awating news on this car, thanks for the article Zachary.
Any news/rumours about the range? Fast charging abilities? Since it has the Zoe motor, will it also have the awesome Chameleon charger?
Wish I had more. It was basically just one paragraph in the middle of a long Daimler press release. I spotted it and got a bit excited, but haven’t seen any word of it anywhere else. Would be awesome if it had the Chameleon charger.