Smart claims "300mpg" for electric-only SmartForTwo

In London, Smart is testing an all-electric version of its SmartForTwo car. An 8-hour charge gets up to 72 miles of travel at up to 60 mph, and the makers suggest a lunchtime top up to get 100 miles a day.

Powered using a standard power socket, Smart claims that it gets the equivalent of 300mpg. Delicious gallons of electrons. I love it, but if it's no use in the Zombie Apocalypse, it's no use to me.

Smart testing all-electric Smart Ed in London [CNET]

[#1 posted by SeppTB , September 3, 2008 5:16 AM]

Another step in the right direction. When I first saw the FourTwo and the kind of mileage it gets, I thought "That's not too much better than my Cobalt, it costs just as much, and its half the car." However, all electric, 72 mile single charge range, 60mph top speed? I work in a city but live in a suburb outside, total commute each day only about 40 miles, but this still wouldn't work for me because I'd get run over doing 60mph on highways where the average speed tends to skew more towards 75.

[#2 posted by Rob Beschizza , September 3, 2008 5:33 AM]

I want a Diesel fortwo.

[#3 posted by Agies , September 3, 2008 5:35 AM]

Sounds great for city driving. Top speed and range are less than desireable though. It seems like people would be better off taking public transit than driving one of these. It just isn't any good for long distance trips.

[#4 posted by tp1024 , September 3, 2008 6:03 AM]

Just to remind you where this is coming from. 2 years or so ago there were complaints by Mercedes (who makes the Smart) that a Chinese company has copied the Smart - and put a fully electric engine into it.

The timing neatly follows the example of the OLPC -> EEE PC development.

[#5 posted by dculberson , September 3, 2008 7:10 AM]

Hey, it would help out tons in the Zombie Apocalypse because you could charge it using solar and wind power parts you scavenge from former industrial sites. Theoretically you could keep those going for the rest of your life - who knows how long the various caches of diesel would last with all the competition for them.

Oh wait, the batteries would wear out. Well, you'd just have to start mining lithium.

My motorcycle gets ~55 mpg, my wife's scooter just got 84mpg on the last tank. My motorcycle will go a lot faster than 60mph but then it's not as safe in a crash. The difference between 55 mpg and "300mpg" is pretty minimal for me. I already only fill up the bike's small tank every three weeks or so. I might save $20/month.

[#6 posted by Freddie Freelance , September 3, 2008 7:20 AM]

Rob, have you tried plugging a cattle prod directly into an EV's battery? You could roast a Zombie in 2-3 secs and still have enough juice for a (slow speed) get away.

And when the batteries start to wear out you can switch to Lead Acid batteries fairly easily.

[#7 posted by Latente , September 3, 2008 7:32 AM]

@2
Smart 4two cdi 33Kw?

[#8 posted by Not a Doktor , September 3, 2008 1:49 PM]

I want a smart mewtwo

[#9 posted by Rob Beschizza , September 3, 2008 1:59 PM]

Lead acid batteries in an electric car is worth it just for the irony.

[#10 posted by AirPillo , September 3, 2008 3:00 PM]

How exactly does one assign a "miles per gallon" rating to an electric vehicle? I'd really like to know what the criteria and logic for such a rating is.

Oh and Rob:
I want a diesel one, too. It's hard to beat the energy efficiency of a good turbocharged diesel engine.

Of course there's the tradeoff of some added maintenance. I don't know if the fortwo's engine burns oil the way other diesels do, but I've had relatives complain of how quickly their diesel vehicle's oil gets saturated with filth and needs replacement.

[#11 posted by Oren Beck , September 3, 2008 5:54 PM]

#10-
Miles per Gallon to EV terms is comparing quite non comparable concepts. It just is.

But in 1977 a neighbor gave me rides to school in a CitiCar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citicar

So this "Smart" car is not only practical, but has precedent of a sort.

As for "diesel vehicle's oil gets saturated?"

There are several "Bypass" filtration fixes. One being the cyclonic systems. Another being multimedia stack submicron. They both ultra filter a smaller % of the oil per unit time- but eventually will reduce the contaminant level to quite acceptable. Used with synthetic oils and sending samples to a lab for wear particle detection the total package safely extends oil change intervals. Factoring in the "extended oil life" as a "petroleum usage decrease" sharply raises a fleet's calculated efficiency. Which is why many truck companies have been using these methods for years already. In a small lightly loaded hybrid one factor of concern is cycle life.

The engine controller needs to balance minimal fuel use Vs getting the engine warm enough for closed loop engine controls to function. Formerly a factor more associated with Gasoline engines and Catalytic Converter systems it soon will apply to diesels. As diesels WILL need trap combustors to meet sub-micron particle standards.

The other less talked about effect in electric car tech is discharge depth Vs Battery life. Skipping the deeper maths- many battery chemistries will give 5000 cycles of 20% usage- also written as 80% charge remaining, 1000 charges of 50% usage- meaning half the charge remaining, and truly horrid results of maybe 10-30 cycles of full discharge to lowest remaining voltage. That's mostly lead-acid.

Lithium based cells have a set of concerns way out of scope for this post excepting the Saphions which are in a unique class deserving a detached consideration.

So I'd suggest either using the Saphions or sizing lead acid packs to respect the % rules lest the battery cost eat up the other savings.

The other cruel effects at work are charge time Vs power delivered to the "charge pillar" Euro standard 220 v so called is reputed to be closer to 245 in the real world. US standard outlets of 15A 120-127 v will take easily twice as long to pass the same charge of a 13a 245V europlug

And yeah- all of this is from memories and real world YMMV experience points.

But the Wedge shaped CitiCar that drove me to school in the late 70's was charged from a standard wall plug,

[#12 posted by consideredopinion , September 4, 2008 8:45 AM]

As happy owner of a Smart ForTwo (gasoline), here's my opinion:

The vehicle is optimal for urban singles. It is flexible for the single-occupant vehicle + Ikea/1 bike cargo; it is flexible as a two-occupant vehicle + 2 bikes or 2 snowboards with the extended base rack. This reconfigurability is essential.

On family: it really isn't a family vehicle, but can fulfill a family's need for: commuter car, first car, or semi-empty-nested couples. It can also fulfill the transition period of mother-and-child/-work, if the partner has an alternative for themselves.

Performance: as a low-mass vehicle, it's overall fuel:movement efficiency is good. It can take SF's hills acceptably. With enough acceleration time, it can sustain very rapid highway velocity. It is not an accelerating champ, but that's less critical off the racetrack. The transmission continues to offer poor full-automatic gear-shifting, and merely acceptable manual-automatic performance.

Ultimately, it offers the on-demand convenience of private car ownership, but with fewer rural or suburban applications - despite valiant Dutch YouTube efforts to the contrary.

It is not the car to use to haul concrete, it is not the car to use to haul the junior soccer team - it is the car to use in at least 80% of car trips done in the US.

[#13 posted by consideredopinion , September 4, 2008 8:47 AM]

To add...

An all-electric version of this vehicle platform does not take much away from it's main designed function (e.g. urban singles car).

Interestingly, the likes of ZipCar and Flexcar offer a different solution, trading less immediate convenience for a flexible range of vehicles whenever they're needed.

[#14 posted by AirPillo , September 4, 2008 8:39 PM]

#11:

That was really informative, thanks for sharing the info.