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2011 Smart electric drive

HI-RES GALLERY: 2011 Smart electric drive

The electric revolution is underway. With testbed vehicles including the Mini E, and big-name models like the Ford Focus EV and Nissan LEAF on the way within a year or two, it's no longer a question of whether electric cars will come back.

More appropriately, we should be asking, how soon will EVs become a sizable portion of the market? Could electric drive actually make a better city car? Could it even make a city car that was originally designed with a gasoline engine better, more refined, more sensible?

To the last couple questions, yes and yes. After just driving the 2011 Smart Electric Drive, we've decided that it's a more refined, more likable vehicle in electric form. Yes, it only gets up to about 62 mph and its range is about 80 miles, but for a city vehicle those aren't severe handicaps. And in nearly every way, at urban-driving speeds, the Electric Drive feels both smoother and more responsive.

Want more detail? You'll definitely want to check out full driving impressions over at our companion site The Car Connection.

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2011 Smart Green Electric Cars Smart fortwo electric drive

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Comment (1)

By John Posted: 4/27/2011 9:09am PDT

Interesting that you find the ForTwo electric more refined and sensible than the gasoline counterpart - I wonder if this is something that the auto makers target in order to convince people to buy the electric version of the vehicle, or if it just has to do with something as simple as a lower center of gravity because of all the heavy battery packs so low in the vehicle?

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