The Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP, French Oil Institute), has introduced a natural gas-powered car which reduces its CO2 emissions down to 84 g/km. The prototype, called Vehgan, was made from a standard older model Smart Fortwo with several technologies added to reduce fuel consumption. First of all, there is a downsized engine which uses a turbo and an intercooler, in this case, optimized for use with natural gas. Then, the powertrain is mated to a Valeo StARS 14V+X hybrid system, for which the IFP developed a new management process to minimize fuel consumption. This mild hybrid system has a Start&Stop function and features regenerative braking.
The car has a range of about 200 km (120 miles), but the composite-made gas reservoirs don't affect the vehicle interior. IFP expects future developments to reduce CO2 emissions down to 80 g/km. That would be 32 percent less than the standard gasoline version. Oh, and let's mention that despite Smart being a German brand, the factory that makes these cars is in France
We've seen the renderings - some fanciful, like the ones above, some unsurprising - and heard the rumors about the new all-electric BMW/iSetta vehicle. If we trust the phrasing in a short story in Global Insight (no direct link, sorry; found the story in Lexis Nexis thanks to the EDTA), then we can celebrate a new development at BMW. The story, written by Tim Urquhart, starts, "BMW will give the green light to an all-new zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) city car that will see the premium carmaker enter an all-new segment." This fits with the news that came out about a month ago that said that a decision would be made sometime this year. The new EV - which might be called the iSetta or potentially co-branded (?) with Smart - will likely have li-ion batteries. We're ready for some official confirmation on this one, don't you think?
Smart has been field testing a fleet of battery-powered ForTwo ED models in Britain for several months. Now Auto Motor und Sport out of Germany is reporting that an updated version could begin testing in the U.S. as early as 2009. The current model uses high temperature sodium-nickel-chloride Zebra batteries. The new generation will switch to a lithium ion pack and could be tested in the Los Angeles area. There are no specs available at the moment, but Smart's Anders Jensen has said that if the testing provides positive results the car could move to production quickly. Given the relatively disappointing fuel economy of the gasoline-powered version of the ForTwo, an electric drive model could prove quite popular. The layout of the Smart makes it amenable to alternative drivetrains, with a battery pack able to slide under the double floor and an electric motor easily replacing the internal combustion engine.
Small cars aren't necessarily unsafe, as good engineering and quality materials can go a long way towards making up for the size disadvantage that they face in many accidents. Sometimes, though, corners can be cut in order to save a few bucks, and the U.K. agency Thatcham suggests that the seats in small city cars could use some help.
"City cars are not equipped to protect their occupants' necks when they have to absorb the crash energy from larger, heavier vehicles which combined with poor seat design makes whiplash far more likely. Good seat design is not something that should be inherently linked to higher value cars and this latest set of results will hopefully act as a catalyst for vehicle manufacturers to look at improving seat and head restraints design within this important and growing sector," says Matthew Avery, a research manager at Thatcham.
Because city cars spend much of their time in traffic, which is where whiplash is most likely, these latest tests indicate that much more work is required from manufacturers. Not a single mini-car tested performed well enough to earn a "good" whiplash protection rating, while the smart fortwo and Renault Twingo were the only mini's rated as "acceptable."
The new Green Party mayor of Tübingen Germany is fully in support of the city's "10% less CO2 by 2010" policy and he's got a new ride to demonstrate it. Boris Palmer has selected the Smart ForTwo MHD as his official ride when on city business. The MHD version of the Smart features micro-hybrid drive, which essentially an automatic start-stop system. The Smart MHD is the most fuel-efficient gasoline-powered Smart averaging 54.7mpg (U.S.) on the New European Driving Cycle. That's an improvement from the 50mpg achieved by the conventional gas unit. Carbon dioxide emissions of the Smart MHD are only 103g/km. The micro-hybrid turns off the engine whenever the car comes to a stop and automatically re-starts whenever the brake pedal is released. Although the U.S. market won't be getting the diesel-powered Smart anytime soon, we probably will get the micro-hybrid in a year or so.
We've seen two reviews now of the smart ed, one favorable, the other... not so much. Regardless, we hope that smart is able to offer an electric version of their little runabout sooner rather than later. Whether using the Zebra batteries of the ed or newer lithium ion packs, an electric smart car is just what the market needs in the U.S. We'd like a diesel and the micro-hybrid too, of course.
For Chinese car buyers interested in a Smart ForTwo, the real deal will finally be available. Daimler AG's head of sales and marketing, Klaus Maier, said yesterday that the city car will be available in China starting in the middle of 2009. For a while now, domestic manufacturers have been selling vehicles that look suspiciously similar to the ForTwo (some with a battery-powered drivetrain, see here and here). Daimler has apparently realized there's a market for the city car and Maier told journalists yesterday that, "I am happy to announce that Smart, the original micro compact car, is coming to China next year. If you've spent any time on the streets of Beijing, you know that it is the perfect place for creative solutions to urban mobility." Or uncreative ones, if you're not too concerned about intellectual property.
A lot of Americans who were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Smart ForTwo on our shores have been disappointed by the mileage figures that reach only into the upper thirties. Over in Europe, Smart offers the ForTwo with automatic start-stop systems and in a diesel configuration that is the most efficient internal combustion car currently available. The Smart ForTwo CDi is rated at 71mpg (U.S.) but American drivers won't be getting a crack at it anytime soon. Unfortunately, that diesel isn't Tier 2 Bin 5 compliant meaning Smart wouldn't be able to offer it in some of their biggest potential markets like California and New York. According to SmartUSA president Dave Schembri, the diesel Smart also wouldn't provide the performance Americans would expect. I haven't yet driven the new second-generation Smart diesel. However, the first-generation model that passed through the ABG garage last summer certainly had leisurely acceleration. Nonetheless for a car that is primarily an urban runabout, it's probably perfectly adequate. Perhaps if diesel popularity picks up in the next couple of years and Smart's popularity is sustainable the company will reconsider.
Many words have been spilled here and elsewhere about the Smart ForTwo since well before its recent debut in the U.S. market. One area that has not received much attention (perhaps for a good reason) is the Smart's prowess when being thrashed on a race track. We have just gotten our first reader report on how the ForTwo comports itself when tossed in among the big dogs like Mitsubishi EVOs and Honda S2000s. Turns out it wasn't a total loss. For those that have been following the ongoing saga of Tesla Motors, you might remember David Vespremi, who formerly handled communications from San Carlos.
David and his wife recently took delivery of a new ForTwo Cabrio (check out who came along to the dealership when they took delivery). According to David, the ForTwo has a real go-kart feel to it. While it has under-steer to spare, the rear wheel drive chassis apparently has the right fundamentals to have some fun. The shift logic of the automated manual gearbox leaves much to be desired, although David says the shifts have gotten a lot smoother as the clutch has been broken in over a couple of thousand miles of driving. A new air intake helped with performance and David says they are getting mileage in the upper thirties even with very spirited driving.
Popular Mechanic's Senior Automotive Editor Mike Allen raises a question in his biweekly Mechanics Diary that is rarely broached by auto writers: How about cars with less power?
The automobile industry, using advertising which runs into the billions of dollars each year, sets the pace. A pace that suggests we drive in a world of open roads and no speed limits, what one car maker calls "zoom, zoom." In reality, most driving is a modestly paced, crowded trudge from home to work and back again. As car makers contemplate and begin producing what could be a commuter's dream car - a plug-in hybrid - Allen asks if they will insist on unnecessarily large and powerful engines.
Reflecting on the 1200 cc, 40hp engine that powered the VW hippie van of his youth, he wonders why PHEV engineers are all insisting on a larger engine in a new-fangled vehicle that won't even use it much of the time. A smaller yet sufficient ICE functioning as a generator to keep batteries charged (and passengers heated) after the grid-supplied power has been depleted would be less expensive, less gasoline-consuming, and less polluting. For a significant share of the new car market, less has already become the new more. The Honda Accord Hybrid was discontinued when consumers rejected a power hybrid; they wanted greater fuel efficiency. With a year and a half wait time for a Smart car at one California Smart dealer, the writing may be on the wall.
Ever have that dream where can of Red Bull is doing something illegal with a smart fortwo? We finally found someone who's taken that image from pure fantasy into glorified advertising reality: the conversion house Carbonyte UK (also responsible for the world's first Ferrari 'limousine').
Carbonyte unveiled the world's only stretch Smart car today - called the Carbonyte Smaaart, of course. The Smaaart, and ex-fortwo, is now 17 feet long but still has the same engine and can go 80 mph (but why?). Want your own? Carbonyte will make one for you for around £25,000 and plaster any logo you wish on the side. If you're just curious to see how it drives - or have some drinks to sell - Carbonye will also rent the Smaaart to you for a day. I seriously hope this line from the press release (available in full after the jump) is a joke: "Carbonyte is also looking to take the Smaaart into the funeral industry by using the latest electric technology to produce an individual yet environmentally-friendly hearse." Um, no thanks.
After just over two months of sales in the U.S., the Smart ForTwo is moving out of dealerships at a good clip. So far sixty-seven of the planned one hundred Smart USA dealers are in operation and the company sold 1,734 cars in February. Since the first cars were delivered in mid-January, a total of 3,437 ForTwos have be turned over to US owners. While that is a pretty good pace, the real test will be what happens over the coming months. As decidedly mixed reviews come in from media sources, owner word of mouth may prove to be the deciding factor in the success of the car in this country. For such a small car mileage numbers in the mid-30s may prove to be insufficient for American buyers. On the other hand the compact footprint may prove to be a boon to urban drivers. Only time will tell.
Even though the Smart ForTwo is a great looking and popular car, there's just not a lot of places for crash impact energy to go in a vehicle this small. This is part of the reason that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, when it announced crash test results for the ForTwo on Thursday, issued some lackluster ratings and a "safety concern" footnote to report a door coming unlatched during a side crash. Overall, the 2008 ForTwo scored four stars for the driver in a front impact, three for a passenger in the same situation, five and three for resisting rolling over. These results are neither great nor amazingly bad, writes Harry Stoffer in Automotive News, and it bears repeating that the front impact scores only compare similar-sized vehicles hitting each other. Not sure how the ForTwo would handle a Escalade at 100mph.
Gallery: Detroit Auto Show: smart fortwo live shots
We can think of a few electric cars which have gotten less-than-stellar reviews, probably deservedly so. The first reviewer that we know of to tackle the smart ED, though, was rather in favor of the diminutive electric machine, enjoying the 60 mile-per-hour top speed and 72-mile range. Top Gear, though, was less than impressed, citing a distinct lack of range and suggesting that "the Smart looks less appealing than a bike." Granted, smart thinks that the review unit provided to Top Gear must have had some ailments, but perhaps the system still has some growing-pains to overcome before it's truly ready for the mainstream market. It's likely that the Zebra battery would be replaced with lithium ion's in any real production version, in any case. Still, we remain wanting to get a crack at the smart ED ourselves. Thanks for the tip, Forrest!
Thanks to a long and popular run in Europe and solid sales in the U.S., the Smart ForTwo is an international hit (soon, we'll be thanking Miley Cyrus for years for breaking out the young girl Smart market). Daimler is especially proud of the second-generation ForTwo, which has been on sale for about a year and is available in 37 countries. Daimler recently sold the 100,000 second-gen Smart ForTwo. A 36-year-old woman bought the car in Munich yesterday. So, Daimler, you've proven you can sell these small cars - even in a country where they might not be seen as manly enough - now make with the electric versions already.
The Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP, French Oil Institute), has introduced a natural gas-powered car which reduces its CO2 emissions down to 84 g/km. The prototype, called Vehgan, was made from a standard older model Smart Fortwo with several technologies added to reduce fuel consumption. First of all, there is a downsized engine which uses a turbo and an intercooler, in this case, optimized for use with natural gas. Then, the powertrain is mated to a Valeo StARS 14V+X hybrid system, for which the IFP developed a new management process to minimize fuel consumption. This mild hybrid system has a Start&Stop function and features regenerative braking.
_thumbnail.jpg "Beijing 2008: BYD e6")
