Model history

The first mass produced Smart ForTwo Electric Drive (or ED) was introduced in the UK in 2013. This was the third generation of the electric Smart car, following initial field testing in London in 2007 of 100 cars. Due to Daimler's $50M investment investment in Tesla in 2009, Tesla were involved with the development of the Smart ForTwo ED, Mercedes B-class ED and the Mercedes A-class E-Cell, supplying the battery packs & electric powertrains. Daimler later sold their shares (nearly a 10% equity stake in Tesla) in 2014 for $780M. The third generation Smart ForTwo ED from 2013 uses a new 17.6kWh battery pack produced by Deutsche ACCUmotive, a Daimler AG company in Germany. The onboard AC charger is 3.3kW with an optional 22kW charger upgrade costing £2,650.

The forth generation ForTwo came along in 2017 and with a new body on the Renault/Mercedes Edison Platform. The battery pack remains the same 17.6kWh, but the AC charger is now 7.2kW with no higher powered upgrade options. At the same time, the ForFour model (4-door) was also available as an electric drive.

In 2018, the naming changed to EQ for the electric models. A 22kW onboard charger is now also also available. The battery pack remains at 17.6kWh for all models.

For further information on the history of the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, see the Wikipedia page.

Other information

A great source of information on the Smart cars is the Evilution website.