Articles

The rumor mill is churning again and it seems to be getting clearer and clearer: The smart #3 will be presented on April 17, 2023 in China at the Shanghai Motor Show.

The first design sketches have now appeared. Reason enough to prepare for the premiere and see what we already know. Apart from high-resolution images, we don't seem to be missing a lot.

The question of which charging cable you need for your electric car keeps coming up. With this article, I not only want to explain to you what kind of charging cable you need and how you can distinguish different ones, but also when you don't need one.

Equipped with this article, no questions remain unanswered.

smart now also offers its own charging tariff. In cooperation with Digital Charging Solutions GmbH, smart customers can easily charge across Europe. Of course you already know how to use a charging card. But some people may be wondering how the money gets from your account to the charging station operator via the charging card. Most of the time you end up at "foreign" charging stations and, for example, smart's cooperation partner does not have its own charging stations at all.

In this article we dive into the world of charging station operators and see how the money goes from you to the operator. Because mostly it's about detours.

Now it's official: The last smartEQfortwo can be ordered in late April 2023, when there will be the final order freeze. Due to the long delivery times, it will then be built until mid-2024.
To say goodbye, there is also an initiative by the German car dealerships: The unofficial "final EDITION" is limited to 150 vehicles and is already on sale.

There are two "final EDITION" in Munich, and of course I took a look at them straight away. In this article, you can read about my sobering impressions and how things will continue with the fortwo now.

I'm always amazed at what the smart fortwo did in the 90s. This is the case again this time: In an interview, Microlio's co-founder Oliver Ouboter says that the Microlino would never have existed without smart.

In this short article, I would like to tell you the story of how smart enabled his father to start the company.

A smart EMOTION reader noticed about two weeks ago that the smart is now appearing in the Mercedes me app. Obviously, Mercedes had taken the trouble to integrate the smart into the Mercedes app. Meanwhile, the smart EQ control app had another server failure. The conclusion was obvious, the smart EQ control app will be deactivated and replaced by the Mercedes app.

But it turns out differently. I've asked smart and they where at first at a loss and then quite reluctant as to why the smart appears in the Mercedes app. More on this in the article, also when smart will officially deactivate the smart EQ app forever and what app alternatives will then be available.

Last week the Microlino was a topic because I had the opportunity to drive one. The little car is the perfect micro car for the city and short distances in the village. For you guys, one of the most important topic was the safety it offers. A topic that makes all small cars practically die.

I spoke to one of Microlino's two co-founders, Oliver Ouboter. Safety is in the Microlino's vehicle class a big topic. But it will also be an issue for the next smart fortwo. Because it's getting harder and harder to build a microcar, since the legislature is practically working against microcars and effectively prohibits them.

I drove a Microlino and had a long talk with its owner. A super cool little car and I can't get one question out of my head:

Is this the modern smart fortwo replacement?

The fortwo is still being built, but production seems to slowly being phased out. Meanwhile, Microlino is slowly ramping up series production and has been delivering to private customers for several months now. Reason enough to take a closer look.

With the expected introduction of the smart #1, smart drivers will finally have the luxury of having a heat pump. Reason enough to take a closer look at this exciting technology and, above all, to answer one question: Where does a heat pump actually get the heating energy from, if not from the car's battery?

In this article I'm answering these questions. In addition, I have explained all relevant terms in more detail in my wiki and linked them here in the article.

We've been almost 10 years now, and of course we've already tried out a lot of things when it comes to home charging. I only recently reported on Schuko charging. In the meantime, our setup has grown to 5 private charging points and, most recently, also a public 22 kW charging station. Everything together on a house connection, with the corresponding load management and the public charging station including German calibration law and billing rules.

In this article, I'll go over how our charging park has grown, what our experiences are, and how to accommodate it all without a blackout.

After the 1st generation (2006) of the electric smart was based on technology that was 10 years old, smart urgently needed external help. The choice fell on the then still very young Tesla startup. Today it is common knowledge that Tesla developed the 2nd generation (2009-2012) of the smart electric drive for Mercedes. What is less known, however, is that it was heavily based on the original Tesla Roadster. The first prototype of the smart ED2 's electronics even thought it's a Tesla roadster and had all its components. Including the roadster-specific on-board computer, display and 248 hp rear-wheel drive motor.

Reason enough to take a closer look at the original Tesla Roadster and its interesting history. Because not only smart as we know it today is based on his shoulders, but also the entire Tesla company. In this article I would like to bring you closer to the Roadster and therefore I spoke to David Lyons. He was Tesla employee number 12 and worked at Tesla from 2004 to 2008 as Director of Engineering for everything to do with the roadster's powertrain.

The first smarties with a battery rental contract are now turning 10 years old and in the coming months and years this of course will increase. This raises a question I'm getting asked more and more:
The 10-year rental contract is expiring and I received an offer from smart to buy a battery. Should I buy it?

In this article I would like to give you an overview of your options and of course I will also tell you how I will deal with the rental battery of my own 2013 smart.

I'm still being asked why you should buy an expensive wall box when the same thing is also available as a cheaper solution in the form of a charging brick. However, I strongly advise against this, not only from personal experience. Nowadays, mainly due to a variety of experiences from my readers and things that I have already seen over time.
Charging bricks are not called emergency charging cables for nothing and should therefore not be used as a permanent charging solution. They are not designed for this and sooner or later, in the best case, "just" something will break, in the worst case even burst into flames. This saves no money.

In this article I answer all the common questions and myths that I have come across on the subject over the past few years. At the end I will also give you a safe and inexpensive recommendation.

It was an exciting week for the smart community. Here is everything at a glance:
• The first dealer vehicles have arrived in Europe
• The smart #3 is being homologated
• Another variant of the smart #1 was shown in China
• The smart #1 scored top marks in the EU crash test

You can find all the details in this article.

So now I've had the chance to test drive the all new smart SUV. The smart #1 is already very impressive in the pre-production version and well on the way to becoming a really popular car. In this post we'll take a look at what I've experienced in 2-3 hours and why the car made me speechless.

smart deliberately kept the equipment lines of the smart #1 very clear. Nevertheless, in the press release and on smart's own website, they are anything but clear. That's why I dealt with it and cleaned up the entire spectrum for you. In this article you can find out what great features are already available from the base and everything else.

I renamed the EQpassion page to smart EMOTION. The attentive ones among you have already noticed. I have also completely overhauled the design of my website and made it even clearer.

The time has finally come: smart announces prices, equipment and BRABUS variants.
So far, the key data of the smart #1 has been convincing, and now the price too. The smart #1 is clearly trying to compete with vehicles in higher segments. Not least with the smart BRABUS #1 that is now officially presented and has a power output of 315 kW (428 hp) and a speed of 3.9 seconds.

At the Chengdu International Automobile Exhibition, smart announced the price and key data of the smart BRABUS #1 and also announced other models until 2024. In the same way, smart China confirms that the first #1 have rolled off the assembly line in series production and are scheduled to be delivered to Chinese customers in September.

You only realize how much of the current smart fortwo and forfour is from Renault when you put the wrench somewhere. We now have experience with this as well and would like to use the DCDC converter to show you what madness the smart EQ is.