Production of the Smart Fortwo all electric drive began this week at the Hambach, France plant. Production of 1,000 units will be completed within the next few months. These are the first European electric vehicles that are fully operational for everyday use. Daimler AG tells us that these cars will be available to the general public for the model year 2012. The Smart Fortwo is now available in 41 markets around the world. Most recently with launches in China and Brazil, the Germany, Italy, and the U.S. are key markets.
The hunt for the perfect plug in electric car is getting closer. The 2010 Smart ED Fortwo electric drive car, a zero emission town and city car, rolled off the Hambach, France assembly line. Read what Daimler AG says:
Hambach, France / Stuttgart, Germany - This week, Daimler AG started production of the smart fortwo electric drive at the smart plant in Hambach, France. In a first step, 1,000 vehicles will be provided to customers participating in various mobility projects in major cities in Europe and the U.S., in order to generate broad feedback on electric driving under everyday conditions.
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Marc Langenbrinck, Managing Director of the smart brand: “With the start of
the series production of thesmart fortwo electric drive, the Hambach plant
enters a new era – at the same time, the smart fortwo emphasizes its
pioneering role on the way to individual mobility with local zero-emissions
in cities and urban areas. Its innovative battery-electric drive makes the
smart fortwo electric drive the ideal vehicle for the city: it combines
responsibility to the environment with driving fun and joie de vivre in a
virtually perfect manner.”
The second-generation smart fortwo electric drive started now is equipped
with the most modern lithium-ion-battery. As of 2012, the smart fortwo
electric drive will be produced as a regular part of the smart product
portfolio and will regularly be sold through the smart sales network.
First Milestones in 2007 and 2008
The smart brand has taken a pioneering role in electric mobility since 2007.
Back then, 100 smart fortwo electric drives of the first generation went
into practical customer operation under everyday conditions of city traffic
in London. Feedback from this project has been very positive right from the
start and confirmed the high degree of maturity of this vehicle concept.
Just one year later, the company introduced the second generation - which is
now being produced - with an even more advanced electric drive and an
innovative, highly efficient lithium-ion battery. Lithium-ion technology has
decisive advantages over other types of batteries including higher
performance, shorter charging times, a long life and high reliability. In
addition, a smart fortwo electric drive can be charged at a regular
household power outlet.
A story of success: The smart Plant in Hambach
The smart plant in Hambach was inaugurated in 1997. Since 1998, it has
produced the smart fortwo, since 2007 in its current generation. In 2008,
more than 800 employees of the plant and some further 800 people employed by
seven system partners produced about 140,000 units of the smart fortwo. In
September 2008, the brand celebrated its tenth anniversary along with the
1-millionth smart fortwo produced at the Hambach plant.
The Hambach plant has represented an innovative production concept since its
beginning: The assembly line in the shape of a plus sign has been designed
to optimally meet the demands of assembly and logistics and ensures highly
efficient production processes. This principle enables the system partners
to supply modules directly to the assembly line, which reduces transport and
logistics efforts to a minimum and hereby also provides an advantage
regarding ecological aspects. In addition, the environmentally friendly and
cost effective paint shop, an energy concept with numerous savings
opportunities and the construction principle of the vehicles ensure that the
ecological product responsibility of the smart brand is translated into the
production.
