Gadgetory

I like the smart fortwo except when I hate him like every time it shifts but there are no shift when there is no gearbox aha let's drive the 2011 smart electric drive and check the tech the electric smart is the same as the gas engine one with five changes electric motor replacing the three cylinder gas engine Genki transmission removed entirely a lithium-ion battery pack from Tesla lives under the seats a charger and port are added an electric power steering is installed okay just like a gas engine for to all the businesses in the rear under here is your now electric motor same apparatus though in terms of the arrangement on the gas engine car it's all sitting sidesaddle driving the rear wheels only now in this case we've got here is a 30 kilowatt electric motor to a one speed reduction gear so that god-awful transmission in the gas engine car is gone that's the best news now the bad news 30 kilowatts is 41 horsepower even for a guy this size that's not a whole lot you're gonna get 0 to 60 km/h in six and a half seconds that's 0 to 37 miles per hour top speed on this guy is limited to 60 all out and your energy efficiency is 87 mpg a that's that new number that gives you the equivalency of electricity to the energy found in a gallon of gas kind of funny number but it's the best thing we've got to go apples to apples these days now one of the issues I have with this car is it makes a lot of strange noises you'd say electric cars are silent but maybe because this one's just so short coupled or it's the stuff they're using that it makes all kinds of weird whining grinding howling sounds I wasn't really crazy about that okay so let's go for a drive is this little guy simple situation turn the key it's still in the Saab position down here and again you've got a PRN D shifter but there are no gears it's either engaged or it's not even reverse has no special gear it just flips the polarity of the engine and runs it in Reverse now the throttle is a little little insensitive it kind of starts off with kind of nothing for the first bit of travel and then it kicks in unlike a lot of electric cars you don't have this massive lovely torque that we like so much it's just isn't that powerful that's kind of a little motor back there now once you get under way and once you get past that initial sort of Numb tip-in on the accelerator I hate to say this cuz all the smart haters will seize on it but it really drives like a golf cart it has that same sort of porpoising thing because it's got a short wheelbase you hear that electric motor pronounced Li just like on a golf cart it's about the size of a golf cart all it needs is a little Surrey topper and a little bit of that Dingle ball fringe and it's a golf cart I'm on a grade now going up a I don't know what is this seven eight nine percent gray just a guess cars having a hard time with this I'm floored and there's an extra click in the gas pedal or the accelerator I should say that pours on extra oomph it goes from a standard Drive of 20 kilowatts to a little extra click right there when you tap into all 30 kilowatts all 41 massive horsepower it's just enough to get up hills or to do passing maneuvers but it's never as much as you'd like now just like the gas engine smart fortwo I just think it's a fun car to drive it's sensible packaging not as your only car for most people but as that second sort of get around commuter ride I still like this vehicle but it's underwhelming on the electric side now those two pods on top of the dash are gonna be a key interest every time you drive this car the one on the right is how much power you're using when the needle swings to the left its power delivery and how much regen you're capturing when you're on the brakes or coasting that's when it swings down all the way down to ten so this car can regen to a maximum strength of 10 kilowatts but can power itself to 30 obviously regen is not equal to its ability to power itself that would be almost a perpetual motion machine the one on the left is your battery capacity it's the nearest thing you have to arrange gauge this car doesn't tell you how much range you have left on a long grade on a freeway which this car just barely handles you can watch that needle on the left drop it's a little unnerving electric power steering in the smart electric because obviously there's no where to power a hydraulic unit it's always on unlike some cars like the BMW 7 hybrid the electric power steering dies when the engine shuts off at a stop sign which was a weird kind of a glitchy thing for them this car always has electric steering on and it's an exceptionally tight Turner just like all smart fortwo is the cabin tax nothing special we've talked about that before if you want to get a good read on that go see our video on the standard gas-powered smart fortwo okay charging a smart electric is pretty routine like most cars you've got what people call a charger it's not it's a charge adapter and cable the charger is in the car it's kind of a complicated apparatus here's our charge door here you recognize the traditional SAE charging port this handle is also common to all the charging cars today from a Tesla to a volt to a leaf to this guy now when you get this plugged in it's going to take 12 hours to fully charge it 12 hours or more on 110 and by the way I found out the hard way it will not charge on a non grounded 110 outlet so there goes several million pre-1960 to homes unless you've had all your wiring upgraded what you really want to do is bring a level two charger a 240 outlet out near the car because you can't use extension cords with this and that's gonna get you a much better charge time from 20% to 80% in three and a half hours is how they communicate it smart has a full tutorial on getting one of those level 2 chargers installed at your place honestly it makes it look like a real drag once you do you'll find the charge cost varies widely by your utility rate plan and time of day you charge but here in San Francisco for example at best rate it would cost about a buck for a full charge that should take you 60 miles 60 slow miles running the numbers doesn't really work right now estimates have you saving 460 dollars in energy per 10,000 mile year compared with a gas for two but you'll spend an additional forty four hundred on the lease for a net disadvantage of almost four grand even if gas prices keep soaring let's say you're at least a couple grand in the hole that's why smart is quick to mention the full production version of this car that arrives in 2012 will be a lot cheaper okay let's price this guy sit down forty five six that's right forty five thousand six hundred is the base price about three times the cost of a gas powered smart fortwo the good news is you won't pay that because you can't buy it you can only lease it six hundred bucks a month for the hardtop 650 I think it is for the Cabriolet now it's a lease as I mentioned which means you probably won't qualify for most if any of the various rebates and credits out there that are typically given for purchases as I understand it it's an odd little bird but the leasing does take uh some of the shock out of the price and if you really want an electric car you've only got a few choices