The little EV commuter car, the Smart ED

[david_42]

I don't know if the Smart forfour EV will make it to the USA, but it sounds like it might be an option. We have to have a four-seater.

 

[Cheburashka]

Lease was less than $1500 down $160 a month

This is sad.

I pay just under $100 a month for my Spark EV with 45K mileage allowance.

And this is a car with 20kwh battery, very quick motor, 4 doors and rear seats, and fast charging.

 

[Kandiru]

IMHO a Fiat 500e would make a lot more sense in this scenario, with the FWD and better range.

The RWD is a killer, it was shocking to see how many dead member announcements on the dedicated forum a few years ago.

 

[mattack4000]

This is sad.

I pay just under $100 a month for my Spark EV with 45K mileage allowance.

And this is a car with 20kwh battery, very quick motor, 4 doors and rear seats, and fast charging.

And the sparks ev also died like the ev1, your point? My first leaf was the same price, big deal.

 

[mattack4000]

I don't know if the Smart forfour EV will make it to the USA, but it sounds like it might be an option. We have to have a four-seater.

I believe the forfour is just a rebadged Renault with smart exterior and interior, it shares nothing in terms of chassis with the regular smart

I always wonder how smart can survive being sold at such low volume at such a high price. I traveled to Europe recently, these cars are everywhere! They are like maggots in cities like rome.

 

[Mr X]

This is sad.

I pay just under $100 a month for my Spark EV with 45K mileage allowance.

And this is a car with 20kwh battery, very quick motor, 4 doors and rear seats, and fast charging.

It's also one of the most unattractive designs in the automobile world.


Meanwhile... only Smart driving around that looks like this. I get compliments and looks every time I'm out.

 

[Jaguar]

I've owned a Smart ED for five years, as a daily driver, winter and summer. I haven't had a single problem with it. Maintenance is minimal and no battery degradation seen yet. Five hours to charge on a 240volt outlet; overnight on 120v. It's clearly designed for city use, and I can't think of a better car for buzzing around town. (Top speed of 78mph, but it's very sensitive to side winds). With rear wheel drive, it's lots of fun and can easily out-accelerate most cars (0-60 in under 10 seconds and 0-30 very quickly). As for range, I normally get 80 miles on a charge in summer in normal driving (though EPA rating is 68) and 45 in the dead of winter (and we get very cold winters here). The best I've gotten is 107 miles by hyper-miling. A used one is worth looking for --usually well under $10K.

 

[mattack4000]

I recently saw a 2015 for like $5K.

Anyway I have 2500 miles on the car, the car runs pretty well even in the hot summer days. I am still getting between 55-80 miles in terms of range, the faster I go, the faster the battery drains. It's amazing the difference in range in the city vs highway. I can easily jam 10% into the battery with 10 minutes on the 240. It takes me about 2.5 hours to go from 5% to 100%. As an extra car, I think this is perfect as the cost of fuel will easily offset the lease payment on this car.

By the way, I had a chance to drive a gas 2017 Smart. In the hills of SF, the AC barely functioned as it was cutting in and out due to the 80F heat. The brakes and engine got hot too, resulting in the reduction in power. There is no doubt in my mind the ED will handle it just fine. Sure the battery might wear down quick, but 30 minutes will probably be enough to get you to a nice comfortable charger outside the city.