With plans to stop producing ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) cars very soon, Smart is quickly becoming an all electric car brand. Therefore, it’s only reasonable that Smart joins Mercedes-Benz electric cars EQ family.
To make this event more special, Smart announced few features to its electric cars:
smart EQ control app: The perfect digital companion
The new smart EQ control app, which will probably be available from mid-2018, is simple, straightforward and entertaining in typical smart style. With the personalised app, customers can always keep their eye on the current status of their vehicle and control the pre-entry climate control from their smartphone. In addition, intelligent push notifications inform the driver about important events around their electric smart. The built-in charging service now also makes it even easier to find the nearest charging station and to make the payment.
New 22 kW on-board charger with fast charging function
Zero-emissions driving is also made easier by the new 22 kW fast charger. This on-board charger permits three-phase charging at public charging stations or at a wallbox; the high-voltage battery is charged from 10 to 80 percent in under 40 minutes. It will be available from May and will cost 840 euros as an option[1].
Official launch of smart “ready to share”
Following successful beta testing in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Munich and Frankfurt, smart is now officially launching private car sharing by app. The “ready to” package, which is required as hardware for the service, is now optionally available for the smart fortwo and smart forfour in combination with combustion engine and electric drive in Germany, Italy and France. The first smart vehicles to be fitted with this equipment will reach the showrooms in June. smart has drawn on the feedback from the community in its further development of smart “ready to” and will continue to do so for future updates.
[1] Recommended retail prices for Germany, incl. 19% VAT
The faster 22 kW on-board charger made by Renault it’s worth paying 840 € extra. With it you’ll be able to fully charge the small 17,6 kWh battery in less than one hour. While the 4,6 kW on-board charger that comes as standard takes 3,5 hours.
Considering that Renault makes the powertrains for Smart and it recently introduced the R110 for the Zoe, we can expect that a future smart BRABUS EQ will be a tiny city rocket.
However, while the small Smart electric cars are great for city driving, specially for car-sharing services, they are extremely overpriced. With a small 17,6 kWh battery they shouldn’t be much more expensive than their gas counterparts.
Anyway, since Smart already decided to go all-electric by 2020, we’ll see the electric variants gradually start to become less expensive, until price is no longer a barrier to buy an electric car.
