I have been reading with interest of the soon to be released Smart Electric. I am in awe of the way batteries have become better developed over the years, I remember years ago when a battery powered car would only acheive 30 miles on a charge & a maximum speed of around 30 mph. I myself had toyed with the idea of an electric car when the G Wiz first came out, in time, I would think that they will do many more miles between charging, I would still contemplate purchasing an electric vehicle ut for the fact that I have a 70 mile round trip every day to & from work. Being a bit of an eco hippie, I am keen to know what sort of cost in price & obviousy from the green angle too, whether this costs more to produce & whether it is more damaging to the environment to produce, & realistically the running costs to these vehicles, how long the batteries are expected to last, the cost to replace, the cost of charging one of these vehicles & how practical they would be to run.

Mercedes Benz produce a gas Sprinter, I am surprised that they have never looked into producing a gas powered Smart, with the ever rising cost of petrol & diesel (I know gas is also rising at quite a rate), gas is still much cheaper at nearly half the price of petrol, with the power loss being minimal, it would probably make a petrol motor the equivalent of a current cdi model, as a cdi owner myself, I don't find them that bad on power, they are no worse at ulling away from a standing start than a 125cc unrestricted motorcycle, Smart ownership isn't so much about power over the back axle, more to do with economy & nippiness.

Just a few thoughts to throw at Smart, thinking of cheap, economical motoring.