General informations

Wouldn't it be better to swap batteries in 5 minutes instead of having to recharge them for 20 to 40 minutes?

Good question and since Nio now wants to establish exactly that in Europe, I talked to the Head of Power at Nio about this topic. In the past there have been attempts by others to do just that. Even Tesla had tried it and even had a working beta program, but couldn't get that to work either.
What makes Nio different and why do I still consider battery swapping to be a transitional technique, similar to the hybrid drive?

The smartEQfortwo as a snow clearing and street gritting vehicle. What sounds strange at first is actually regularly used by various snow plowing services in Germany. It all started back in 2010, when snow was still moved with a conventional combustion engine smart cars.
Since winter 2020/21, all-electric smartEQfortwo have also been equipped with snow plows. There are also rear gritters to make the smart plow truck complete. Everything is Made in Germany and also has full street approval.
In…

In Germany a reader's letter by a smart ED3 owner causes a stir:
"The battery, of my smart 451, is now defective after five years. The cost for the exchange is 17,000 euros plus VAT, the delivery date is approximately in September. The little one is now a total economic loss. I'll put him in the garden, plant a few flowers in it and drive my diesel to work again"

Of course, that's a topic you are only interested in, if you actually bought the battery at that time (4.770 € surcharge). The vast…

In 2019 we won the season. To do this, we had to prevail against the other teams in Andorra, Hungary, Germany, France and Spain. While we were relying on the Tesla Model S abroad, we drove the three races in Germany (Schauinsland hill climb, night race at Hockenheimring, Oscherlseben 24-hour race) with two smarties: My 2018 smart EQ and a 2014 smart ED


What is the ecoGP about?

The ecoGP is organized by Rafael de Mestre. As he drove already two times around the world with his Tesla, he knows that…