smart fortwo electric drive in major cities in Europe and the USA
Since the end of 2009 the second generation smart fortwo electric drive has been delivered to selected customers. Leases are offered for a period of four years and 60,000 kilometres. The first vehicles were handed over to customers in December within the framework of the "e_mobility Berlin" project. Here, in cooperation with the energy provider RWE and with the support of the German government and the city of Berlin, Daimler is creating ideal conditions for running battery_driven vehicles with no local emissions. This includes setting up a network of electricity charging stations that enable intelligent communication between electric vehicles and the power network so that the battery can be charged when electricity is cheapest. But as mentioned, the smart fortwo electric drive can also be charged at any household safety socket with a 16 amp fuse (standard in Germany and other countries).
Further new generation smart fortwo electric drive vehicles will take to the roads of 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 the autumn of 2010 the smart fortwo electric drive will then also be launched in cities in the USA and Canada, and from 2011 in some Asian countries. There is already a very lively demand for the smart fortwo electric drive, and from 2012 it will be produced in large volumes as a normal part of the smart range and sold via the smart dealer network. This third generation will be fitted with a new lithium_ion battery which Daimler is developing to production maturity in cooperation with Evonik. The lithium_ion battery currently used comes from Tesla and represents state_of_ the_art technology. However, further progress is anticipated. The main differences between the two batteries lie in the structural design. The Tesla battery consists of lots of cylinder_shaped cells. The Daimler battery will be made up of fewer but larger plate units. This will first and foremost enable a greater energy density to be achieved (with greater energy content for a higher range) and an even longer life.
Since the end of 2009 the second generation smart fortwo electric drive has been delivered to selected customers. Leases are offered for a period of four years and 60,000 kilometres. The first vehicles were handed over to customers in December within the framework of the "e_mobility Berlin" project. Here, in cooperation with the energy provider RWE and with the support of the German government and the city of Berlin, Daimler is creating ideal conditions for running battery_driven vehicles with no local emissions. This includes setting up a network of electricity charging stations that enable intelligent communication between electric vehicles and the power network so that the battery can be charged when electricity is cheapest. But as mentioned, the smart fortwo electric drive can also be charged at any household safety socket with a 16 amp fuse (standard in Germany and other countries).
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| Photo: Mercedes-Benz |
Further new generation smart fortwo electric drive vehicles will take to the roads of 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 the autumn of 2010 the smart fortwo electric drive will then also be launched in cities in the USA and Canada, and from 2011 in some Asian countries. There is already a very lively demand for the smart fortwo electric drive, and from 2012 it will be produced in large volumes as a normal part of the smart range and sold via the smart dealer network. This third generation will be fitted with a new lithium_ion battery which Daimler is developing to production maturity in cooperation with Evonik. The lithium_ion battery currently used comes from Tesla and represents state_of_ the_art technology. However, further progress is anticipated. The main differences between the two batteries lie in the structural design. The Tesla battery consists of lots of cylinder_shaped cells. The Daimler battery will be made up of fewer but larger plate units. This will first and foremost enable a greater energy density to be achieved (with greater energy content for a higher range) and an even longer life.