New smart fortwo electric drive enters production

Mercedes has announced that the third generation 2012 smart fortwo electric drive has gone in to production.

Mercedes may, very sensibly, be pursuing hydrogen fuel cells as the real future of motoring but they still have an eye on electric cars as urban runarounds.

That urban EV takes shape as the Smart EV, and the third generation smart fortwo ED (electric drive) debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March and has now gone in to production.

Offering a range of around 90 miles from a single charge (ideal circumstances allowing) the 74bhp electric motor can zip to 37mph in 4.8 seconds – probably enough to keep up with traffic – although it will need a leisurely 13 seconds to get to 60mph.

The surprise for the smart fortwo EV is that the price isn’t quite as daft as you might have expected. Mercedes are offering the option to buy the smart fortwo EV for around £15k and then pay around £50 a month to lease the batteries or an outright purchase of the car at around £19k (German prices).

The prices are around twice as much as you’d pay for a petrol-engined smart fortwo so no one is going to grab the EV to save money, but if you’re desperate for a green halo for pottering around town it’s more affordable than other electric car alternatives (the i-MiEV, for example, is £29k).

Sales of the smart fortwo ED start in Germany this summer and will roll out around Europe after that.