It's beginning to appear more and more likely that my previous speculation about the nature of the relationship between Tesla Motors and Daimler may have been accurate. In a Fox Business News interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in June, he mentioned the company has deal of some kind with the parent company of Smart and Mercedes-Benz. Since then I have looked at the possibilities and determined that Tesla may be supplying lithium ion batteries and other hardware for the second-generation Smart ED that will go into fleet tests in 2009.

StreetImportOnline posted today that someone spotted a Smart ForTwo sitting in front of Tesla's San Carlos headquarters. This in and of itself means nothing since the Bay Area is a popular location for the little cars. There was one there in January when I visited to drive the Roadster, in fact. This time, though, the Smart had no tailpipe and was plugged into the charging station outside the front door. A quick call to Tesla SVP Darryl Siry yielded the expected "no comment." In general, suppliers are never allowed to comment on any potential work they are doing for client companies and this situation is no different.

If you happen to be in the neighborhood of Tesla's Bing St. headquarters in San Carlos, CA and you see a Smart plugged in out in the open, please feel free to snap some pics and send them our way. Just use the tips link at the top of the page and we'll give you an email address to send your shots to.

[Source: StreetImportOnline.com]

Next year's arrival of the S400 BlueHybrid appears to be just the first stage of a massive move to hybridazition of the brand's lineup. The ML450 is scheduled to get a Two-Mode hybrid late next year, pending resolution of issues with battery supplier Cobasys. A new generation of the high-volume mid-sized E-class arrives sometime in 2009 and Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche reportedly told media in Paris last week that it, too, will get the hybrid treatment. The smaller C-Class that debuted in 2007 gets a refresh in 2011 that is also expected to add an electric motor into the drivetrain package. The C and E are both likely to use the smaller, less expensive mild hybrid system that goes into the S rather than the larger Two-Mode. Finally, Zetsche had good news for EV fans when he said the company expects to be producing 12-15,000 electric Smarts per year starting in 2012.


[Source: eGMCarTech]