Car Tech: Smart ED electric ninja-mobile
Ever wondered what would happen if a G-Wiz electric car did the horizontal tango with a Smart ForTwo? Us too! All the time! And now we have the answer
We've got a brand new episode of Car Tech for you. No, it's nothing as fast as the Jaguar XKR, but it's potentially just as exciting. Meet the Smart ED, an electric car that's set to revolutionise -- or at the very least shake up -- the way people get around.
It's just like an ordinary Smart ForTwo: quirky-looking, easy to park and nimble, but with a couple of crucial differences. The Smart ED -- we call it the EV in the video but Smart changed the name to ED at the last second -- doesn't use any petrol and doesn't emit any nasty, toxic poison into the atmosphere. You simply charge it up over the mains, hop in and off you go. You can even charge it for free at any of the 22 electric car charging points scattered around London. Aside from road tax and minimal insurance costs, you can pretty much drive this thing around for free. It's just like the G-Wiz -- except perhaps less likely to blow up.
It has other benefits, too. It's exempt from London's congestion charge so you can avoid the £8 per day tax imposed by our good mayor, potentially saving yourself around £2,000 per year. You can also park it for free or for a reduced rate in some nominated car parks. Plus, it runs extremely quietly so you can creep up on kids as they play football in the streets. Or not.
We were pretty surprised by how much fun it is to drive. It goes from 0-30mph in approximately 15 seconds and has a top speed of around 70mph -- more if you're going down a hill with a trailing wind and a tsunami in your rear-view mirror. In other words, it's well on its way to doing what an ordinary car can do. It's not available to buy just yet, but anyone who fancies a glimpse of the money-saving, pocket-fattening future should definitely watch the video. -Rory Reid
Update: The Smart ED can accelerate from 0-30mph in approximately 6.5 seconds, not 15 seconds as previously stated.
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