steveyfrac Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 Curious if anyone else has heard about a 453 ED coming out. I'm curious about range, performance, if they've solved the heating issues, etc.... Any rumors? --Steve Quote
jwight Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 The only non-rumor is that there will be a 453 ED. No technical info yet. Quote
MikeT Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 I too would be curious as to range. I suspect they may go short on range, because in Europe at least it is a "city car" and 110 km is plenty, right? Hope I am wrong because a 200 km nominal range could get me into one. 1 Quote
steveyfrac Posted December 14, 2015 Author Posted December 14, 2015 All the electrics are going longer range, including the i3, which is also european. It doesn't mean they will, but I'm really hoping... Quote
John & Angela Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 Hi Steve. I'm right there with you waiting. The reality is we won't buy until we come back from our one year european RV trip but we are biting at the bit to go after we fell in love with our 2015 ED. The reality is there may be competitors by then, who knows, but right now we would lean towards a second ED to replace our CDI. Like Mike a 200 KM range would be awesome although we never seem to go through even half of our existing ED's 150 KM range. I tend to think it will come in around 200 or better though. It is the natural progression of electrics. I'll tell you though, if someone comes out with a backpack that would extend a 2015's range to 200KM we would be interested and then just buy another 451 ED. There is one trip we make a couple times a year where it would preempt having to charge at the destination. No big deal though. There is a level 2 charge station close by. Quote
SmartED Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 Now with the cool weather here I'm getting used to the reduced range and the ensuing stress. Yikes. More range would be good. Chevy Bolt, if it comes to Canada is promising much greater range - something around 200 miles IIRC. We all hope Smarts will also grow and go further. As it is I'm really not looking forward to going into the city and not using the heater this winter, because if I do it will be a one way trip! Quote
SmartElectric Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 Well, for me, the range is plenty, even in the winter. However, I could use more power, better handling and greater comfort over bumpy roads. That said, I drive the Smart ED in preference to my wife's Tesla on most city street trips, mostly because I feel free to "drive the way I like" in my own car. ;-) 1 Quote
aibo Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 I hope they at least put a faster charger in NA version. 3.3kwh charger isn't too useful when you charge at public charging stations. You can only go another 25km after 1 hour of charging. QC would be great. 1 Quote
SmartED Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 Hopefully we will also see another new EV down the road. If anyone caught the Sunday Sun there is a new company ramping up called Faraday Future. They hope to have a prototype out by 2017. With over 400 employees hired and Nick Sampson, ex Tesla guy running the show, they are credible. They expect to roll out the car at next year's Consumer Electronics Show. They are backed by LeTV, a Chinese company. More choices coming and more incentive for MB to keep our Smarts competitive. That's a good thing. Quote
aibo Posted December 16, 2015 Posted December 16, 2015 Besides Faraday, there is another startup formed by ex-Telsa staff.http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1101400_new-chinese-backed-californian-startup-atieva-plans-electric-car 1 Quote
SmartED Posted December 16, 2015 Posted December 16, 2015 (edited) It's taken a long time, but boy is it ever encouraging to read about what lies ahead. I feel like a pioneer even though I am late to the EV party. Still I'm here and when it comes time to look at replacing the Munchkin, at least I know there will be choices. City cars, such as the Smart, may not be the direction others are taking, but that's good too because we can have a fun car and a family car to accomplish different goals. Competition isn't a bad thing and choices will help keep the Autocos on their toes making sure they don't get left behind. Consumers are the winners. Edited December 16, 2015 by SmartED 1 Quote
swl Posted December 28, 2015 Posted December 28, 2015 I hope they at least put a faster charger in NA version. 3.3kwh charger isn't too useful when you charge at public charging stations. You can only go another 25km after 1 hour of charging. QC would be great. A big me too on this. Available in Europe - just needs re-gigging for our power supply. I don't know if they can find space in the 453 for significantly more range. Energy density just hasn't gone up that quickly. Perhaps marginal increases will be available but I'm not optimistic about 200K. But if we could get the car charged more quickly that would be great. Doing something creative with heat would be great too! Radiant? Heat pump? liquid fuel? The smart ED will probably always be a niche car primarily used as a second car in the family. Well, as the first car in a two car family . My lease is up next November and I may get caught in the "we're almost there" syndrome. Bolt on the horizon, tesla "3" on the horizon, VW hippie van on the horizon... I'll either try to extend my lease or drop back to one car and let things shape up. Problem is that once you've gone electric you can never go back! Quote
steveyfrac Posted December 29, 2015 Author Posted December 29, 2015 Energy density is probably the one thing the our battery sucks at. The Tesla batteries have about double the energy density of our cells. That would be more than enough to get us to 200 km, considering we're at 120~ish now. Also, I think there is enough room in the car for a bit more battery as well. Quote
John & Angela Posted December 29, 2015 Posted December 29, 2015 The information is sure slow in coming though. I keep snooping but no one is saying anything. I would think there will be at least some additional range which is for us a bonus as we can kind of live with what we have already for our lifestyle. Doubling the range wouldn't really change anything for us as we just don't need it bit 30 or 40 KM on the highway would be perfect. Quote
marchanna Posted December 29, 2015 Posted December 29, 2015 To my knowledge the Smart battery has a higher energy density than the Tesla. I even read an article where Elon Musk stated that. Quote
steveyfrac Posted December 29, 2015 Author Posted December 29, 2015 400 lbs of smart battery gives us 17.6 kWh of useable energy. 1200 lbs of Tesla battery gives us 85 kWh of useable energy. If the smart battery were tripled in size, we'd only have 52.8 kWh, so it's a little bit less than twice the energy density. Quote
swl Posted December 29, 2015 Posted December 29, 2015 (edited) 400 lbs of smart battery gives us 17.6 kWh of useable energy. 1200 lbs of Tesla battery gives us 85 kWh of useable energy. If the smart battery were tripled in size, we'd only have 52.8 kWh, so it's a little bit less than twice the energy density. In terms of the limited space in the smart we should be looking at the density in terms of kWh/cubic meter, not kWh/lb. the challenge is fitting more kWh in the same space. Edited December 29, 2015 by swl Quote
Duck Posted March 6, 2016 Posted March 6, 2016 Just wondering, how come the ED isn't on the thesmart.ca website? It only has the 453 "Nosebear" gasser. Have they discontinued the 451/ED in Cnada? Quote
steveyfrac Posted March 6, 2016 Author Posted March 6, 2016 The ED is only available as a 2015. Also: Hi Duck! Do you still own nosedive? Quote
SmartED Posted March 6, 2016 Posted March 6, 2016 The ED was available for model year 2016 but they have been built out and likely all sold out. Mine is a 2016 and was built last spring. The next ED will be a 453 model year 17 and we will likely see them in the fall. Quote
steveyfrac Posted March 6, 2016 Author Posted March 6, 2016 It actually says 2016 model year? Neat! Quote
John & Angela Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) So just awakening this thread. Has anyone heard anything on the 453ED. We just bought a town house in a lock and leave community downtown. Walkable to everything. I think two ED's will work for us. (We'll keep the 2006 Grandstyle at least till we see how it works out...kinda like driving it still). They are sure keeping the lid on the build details of the 453 ED. Love our 451 ED and I'm sure there will be some improvements on the 453. Anyone hear anything interesting ? Edited March 30, 2016 by John & Angela Quote
SmartED Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 Keep yourself current on the SCOA board and there is a chap named Keith who works for MBUSA and has been answering questions. He has hinted about the new 17ED. Quote
John & Angela Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 I had heard that but couldn't find a thread on the topic. Off topic. We were in Sevilla last week and the sales guy there was also frustrated in getting info on them. He thinks it will be a big hit among the new urban crowd with covered parking etc. Quote
SmartED Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 here you go... http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/f4/hello-smart-usa-114114/ Quote
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