2013 Electric SmartCar

(9/9/2013)

I bought my first electric car on 9/9/2013, a 2013 all Electric SmartCar. Click on any picture below for a higher quality original. Click here for a map of a few ChargePoint stations. Update 6/5/2014 - we got a second all electric vehicle the Fiat 500e.

This is the 240V 40A Leviton EVB40-PST 9.6KW Charging Station fully installed (done by professional electrician John Peterson of Peterson Power & Light:

Same picture as above, but with the 2013 Electric SmartCar parked in the recharging station spot:

Close up of the charger:

The electric SmartCar has a "17.6 kWh" battery (is that the amount to "fill the tank"? To go from zero charge to 100% charge?). This costs $0.15/kWh or $2.64 for the full charge, which goes 68 miles, so it costs about $0.04/mile (4 cents/mile) to power it. For comparison gas is $4.30/gallon and you car gets 30 mpg, it costs $0.14/mile (14 cents/mile) to power it. Another factoid is 1 gallon of gasoline is assumed to contain 33.7 kWh.

Some Electric Smartcar (Smart ForTwo Electric Drive) Technical Details
- Motor is 55 kW DC Permanent Magnet, brushless
- A 55kW motor means 74 HP and 96 lb·ft of torque
- the 74 HP is only available in "burst mode" for up to 2 minutes straight, then it drops to 47 HP
- Battery is 339 V Li-Ion (made by Tesla)
- Battery has a 17.6 kWh capacity
- "On Board Charger" is 3.3 kW (the charging technology that is built into the SmartCar)
- EDUCATED ASSUMPTION A: charging is 80% efficient, meaning you put in 22 kWh to charge from zero to 17.6 kWh stored in the battery
- EDUCATED ASSUMPTION B: there is about 14.1 kWh for "normal" use, because to help batteries last you charge to 90 percent and don't discharge below 10 percent
- Takes 6 hours to fully charge from zero at 240V and about 20 Amps
- Takes 14 hours to fully charge from zero plugged into a regular 110V wall outlet
- Plug Type: J1772 (the standard plug for all electric cars now)
- Top Speed: 78 mph
- Range of the SmartCar is usually reported as 68 miles, but that is a blended average, it depends on hills, speed, and would run the batteries to zero, etc.
- 107 MPGe in the combined EPA cycle
- Weight of car (including battery, not including a driver): 2,150 pounds
- 0-60mph in 11 seconds
- Running the heater full blast

Here is what a full recharge (from 5% charge to 100% charge looks like):
-17.5 kWh to increase the battery by 16.7 kWh (so 95% efficient?)
- the "SmartCar On Board Charger" is supposed to be 3.3 kW (the charging technology that is built into the SmartCar)
- each of the first four hours gives battery about 3.4 kWh which seems to agree with (or slightly exceed?) the SmartCar specs
- the car's percent charge indicator doesn't perfectly agree with the wall meter, but it is REASONABLY close?

For comparison to a Tesla, here is a graph from http://www.saxton.org/tom_saxton/2010/07/tesla-roadster-charging-rates.html

Here is a breakdown of one of my electric bills showing electrical rates (this was before I owned the electric SmartCar):

Update on 6/5/2014 - we got a second all electric vehicle the Fiat 500e, ours is seen below recharging (you can see the all electric SmartCar in the background):