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MikeT

Driven By Mike T

24 posts in this topic

I had a good long test drive on Monday. It was about 1 hours 15 minutes. Some photos of the car are attached to this report. It had the spectacular metallic green tridion, white panels and skinny tires on white face hugger alloys. When we got the car, it held 96% of a full charge. The economy meter (sort of like the LEAF's "trees" that you make as you drive economically) was at 88%. This means that the previous driver, who only took it on an 8 km blast, was not trying too hard to conserve energy.We drove around the urban area of Victoria and Oak Bay, then past UVIC out to the little section of the Trans Canada Highway freeway, out to the Langford interchange and back to Three Point Motors.The car was a cabriolet and the first half of the test drive was done with the convertible top open, but not dropped. The car had heated seats and both were on high setting for the ride. Outside temperature was about 13-14C, with light rain on the second half of the drive.The noise maker to alert pedestrians is annoying and I would definitely want to disconnect it as the Canadian smart ED owner Marc Hanna (who is trying to join here but our sign up page is broken) has done.The acceleration is a lot like the G2 electric drive car until you pass the kickdown detent at which point the car takes off very briskly indeed. The torque is exhilarating and using it like I was on the test is not going to do range any favours. It's fun booting it off the line and watching the surprised looks of those following.The car was definitely getting better range in pure city driving, where there was ample energy recovery from decelerations. At one point in the ride, we were getting a bit more than 1.5 km for every 1% of battery power, which would translate to a theoretical 150 km (93 mile) range if the battery was totally depleted (not a good idea!).Then I took the car for a boot on a 8 km section of freeway and ramped her up to Vmax of an indicated 131 km/h (78 MPH according to the imperial trip computer, which was probably the true maximum).After that blast, the energy efficiency that peaked at 96% went down to 84%, which is where it was when we got back to the dealer after more than an hour on the road.In total, we drove 49 km on an indicated 36% of the total energy capacity. Extrapolating this, it is suggestive of a true usable range of around 120 km not driving with much care, with a new battery.I really enjoyed driving the car. It seems to be very well engineered and is far quicker in acceleration than any other smart that has ever been sold in Canada, remapped or not. If we got one, it'd have to be a cabriolet! Heated seats, navigation and paddles would also be important I think.

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Am I having a bald moment? .. Paddles? How would that work, since it is electric? ..... Just curious.Other than that one question, I agree, good report.

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There are optional paddles to vary the degree of regenerative braking.

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Thanks for the report Mike,I agree if I were to get one it would be a cabriolet, since it would mostly be for shorter trips I would want the ability to put the top down in nice weather. Of course I would currently need to win the lotto as mentioned above.

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Posted (edited) · Report post

About those paddles; do they set the level of regenerative braking before the brake pedal is touched, similar to engine braking? The brake pedal then increases it progressively up to maximum, and only then do the mechanical brakes apply?Do I have that right?When you have the paddles set to sporty, is it easy to regulate the throttle to avoid any regen and get maximum coast-down? Not nearly as important for economy as with a ICE, but best economy is still had by not using the power in the first place, rather than by recovering some of it with losses both in the acceleration and regeneration stages.

Edited by Alex

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I'd also like to know how the paddles work; the functional idea of controlling regen completely independently of touching the brake pedal is exciting.-Iain

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hi,last Tuesday I had a chance to test drive the ED in Quebec city at Chatel Auto. Had the car for about half an hour and had a blast. It's fun it's quiet and the torque is just fine. Couldn't get that smile and grin off my face. I was a happy camper.

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I have a friend that has driven the California made TESLA....sounds like an incredible car and concept with the "free" charging stations...by 2015 there will be enough charging stations to get nearly everywhere in North America!The initial price of the car is a bit stiff though!E.B.

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Good one Mike. The only thing I've been thinking is that out west, you have milder winters, but what will electrics (not just the Smart) be like in places like Ottawa, or Montreal?

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Thanks for the review Mike.We took a test drive in an electric drive sometime last year. It seems that they've changed a few details on the car. For example, the power meter on the one we drove still had kW instead of %...kW makes more sense for me :)Also, maybe they changed the drive train, but when we drove it, it didn't seem to have much pull, even with the go pedal past the click. I'm guessing here maybe it was because it had only 25% charge when we had our go, and the computer was trying to cut back on power?

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I drove Three Point's Third Generation ED from Victoria to Shawnigan Lake and back using 70 % of the charge in 90 kms of both city and highway driving. ( Oct 11) I am seriously considering buying one except I still have reservations about the range as the battery ages. My usual commute is 80 kms round trip. I like the acceleration and it is therefore more fun to drive than the second generation which I also drove and liked. The cost of the charging station offends me somewhat. It does not, in my opinion, represent good value at all. There is no advantages financially in owning one of these vehicles but that could be said about just about anything with wheels under it. Until I make up my mind, I will continue to enjoy my 2008 Pure. dp

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I've put almost 14,000kms on my ED now, and I can tell you the cost of charging is almost negligible. I built my own charging station and it can be done for a very reasonable price.

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I haven't done any research, but I'm also surprised at the cost of a charging station. As I understand it, if you want to charge with 110V, you just plug into any 15 amp circuit. Then if you want to halve the charging time with 220V, you need an expensive charging station. What am I missing?

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The Level 2 charging station charges in about 1/3 the time! 14 - 15 hours by Level 1 (120v) and 5 hours by Level 2 (240v). Your charging times might be a little different depending on actual voltage at the charging station. At my house I have between 245 and 250 volts, so I get really good charging times on Level 2 - approx 1 hour per 20% SOC or 5 hours for a full charge. Level 2 charging station are a serious cash grab right now, very over priced considering the level of technology in them. The consist of 1 or 2 relays, a J1772 cable/coupler, a control board, and an enclosure - basically 1970's technology.As I've said in other threads, it's so simple, I was able to build my own.

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Now that is encouraging.( home built charging station.) I have some experience with electricity, having generated my own for over 50 years. If the dealer threw in a charging station with the car, I would place my order tomorrow, but I also have had almost 50 years experience with auto dealers so I will not be holding my breath.

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The ED is the only new smart i'd consider. My commute is much shorter than it used to be, and a lot of my trips are local. But i do like to take road trips to visit friends down in the USA, and i'd kind of like something with more room. That said, the ED looks very promising.I had an opportunity to spend an evening driving the TESLA Model S back in May, and holy crap, that car is a true game-changer.

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If it's space you're worried about, I can fit an entire overloaded car from Costco in the back.

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marchanna said, "consists of 1 or 2 relays, a J1772 cable/coupler, a control board, and an enclosure"I need more help to understand. What does the control board do? I thought that charging would be controlled by the car electronics. It must be for the 120v charging.

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The control board handshakes with the car to confirm that a proper connection has been made, it indicates how much power the charging station can supply, and then flips the switch.

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No problem. I'm going to simplify it further. I'm removing the the transformer in the top left corner and swapping out the contractor in the bottom left corner for one with one with a 120v coil. The (doorbell) transformer was needed to convert 120v to 24vac for the coil. I used two relays so I could isolate the high voltage from the low voltage but this isn't entirely necessary.

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