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Smart ForVision Revealed – 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show

admin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:00:01 +0000

The future of eco-driving is here thanks to SMART. The auto maker, known for tiny cars with a lot of spunk, revealed their Smart ForVision concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Combining compact design and green energy, ForVision might be the first of its kind. The lightweight material used to construct the vehicle is matted to the transparent organic solar cells on its roof, which “generate enough energy to power the multimedia components even in poor lighting conditions.” These cells have organic light-emitting diodes that illuminate the vehicle’s interior when a door is ajar.

Other additions to the vehicle are all light in weight: plastic wheels (at 6.6 pounds), carbon-fiber reinforced resin doors, plastic seats (with lightweight cushioning) and infrared-reflecting film on the windows.

Source: WCF

Smart’s First US-based EV

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:55:42 +0000

What’s the only thing smarter than a SMART car? How about one that is all electric. Well duh! Lucky for us in the United States (and, frankly, all of North America) the electric Smart car has arrived. Maryland resident Mindy Kimball received the first Smart ForTwo EV in the United States. It is one of 250 electric Smart cars we’ll see from the company this year. They are planning a large scale roll out in 2012.

Smart’s leasing a fleet of 250 cars to individuals and corporate fleets as sort of a test run. Full vehicle production is slated for 2012, and pricing has yet to be announced.

“This is a groundbreaking day for smart in the United States,” Smart USA President Jill Lajdziak said in a statement. “We are extremely excited to add the smart fortwo electric drive to the smart product lineup, solidifying our position as a key player in transportation electrification.”

The Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, developed with help from Tesla Motors, has a 40 horsepower electric motor and a 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery.

The battery pack is good for a claimed 98 miles on the LA4 test cycle, but the EPA pegs the real-world figure at 63 miles. It’s good to go in eight hours when plugged into a 220 volt socket. The pack is 80 percent “full” at 3.5 hours.

The Source: CNET

Quick Charge is Smart, Quick Cars Would Help

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:35:38 +0000

SmartCar, Toyota, even Chevrolet are all getting into the electric car game. In response, hundreds of “Quick Charge” stations have been contracted or constructed across the United States & Canada – but there’s hardly any cars with all EV drives to use them.

AeroVironment is the company which introduces three levels of recharger stations for North America: Level I, II and of course III. The “level” of quick chargers depends on how many volts they produce.

While Level I “chargers” consist of a cord and a 120-volt household outlet and Level II chargers offer a little more juice from a 240-volt appliance outlet, the Department of Energy defines Level III chargers as permanently wired units rated at greater than 14.4 kilowatts… as it is explained by Wired.

AeroVironment’s Quick Charge stations were originally developed for the Nissan Leaf EV and Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV cars. But now with the Chevy Volt, SmartEV and Toyota Prius Plug-in finally ready to hit the production line, it seems Quick Charge will be a successful business. Now all they have to do is wait for all these (mostly) import EV’s to come over to the United States & Canada. Oh boy…