HAMBACH(FRANCE):Luxury carmaker Daimler AG will supply its latest electric vehicle ‘Smart ForwoElectric’ to 1,000 select customers in the US and Europe by 2011.
The company last week started production of the lithium-ion-batteryhoused electric car at its plant here.
The company will go for largevolume production for public in 41 markets around the globe with most recentmarket launches, including China and Brazil, in 2012.
In a firststep, 1,000 smart vehicles will be provided to customers participating invarious mobility projects in major cities in Europe and the US. The company isstill to fix a price tag for it while the vehicle will be available to generalpublic in 2012, company officials Jean-Yves Schmitt and Joel de Waha told PTI.
The second-generation smart car, which is just over two and a halfmeters long, is equipped with high performance lithium-ion-battery in aspace-saving position between the axles. A 30 kW electric motor is fitted at therear.
“A full battery charge costs approximately two euros (Rs 140)and is sufficient for a range of around 115 kilometres – more than enough forcity traffic,” the official claimed.
The electric vehicleaccelerates from 0 to 60 km/h in 6.5 seconds with maximum speed limit of 100km/h. It doesn’t require changing gear while air conditioning can be done inadvance, they added.
The officials said the plant was utilising itsoptimal production capacity producing 1,20,000 gasoline and diesel vehicles lastyear with no impact of the global economic meltdown.
“We producearound 500 cars a day here, five days in a week, and we are fortunate that theirwas no impact of the global economic meltdown on our production or demand,” theofficial said. The general versions of the small car are priced between 7,000euros and 27,000 euros.
A Moselle province (France) governmentofficial Thierry Petry said the company had ambitious plan to tap more marketswith its new eco-friendly zero-emission cars.
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