Thanks Cor, Dave etc for the thoughtful Smart, iMiEV and Leaf info.
Since I already have a Leaf (like it very much but my son latched onto it and would like a smaller commuter car) when I replace my Karmann Ghia EV next month I'll probably buy a iMiEV since I see online service manuals available, individual battery monitoring and the same 100K 8 year battery warranty like the Leaf has (also saw a few Chevy Spark compliance cars but little support). It looks like according to www.batteryuniversity.com that both vehicles(Leaf & iMiEV) use the NMC nickel- manganese- cobalt cathode with lithium substrate and carbon anode by LG Chem? I think the 2016 Smart will too. So the iMiEV should have similar life and both air cooled not complicated water cooled like the Smart ED. I drove a Smart ED and really liked the car but if I can't service it (or get it serviced for a reasonable price) then it's a no-go. I wish Swatch kept it or sold through another company other than Mercedes Benz (most MB wheeler-dealers hate the car - low profits), rather sell $70K foo-foo Mercedes (like the dealer here in Roanoke, VA). I'd take the Smart (convert) plunge if someone made a motor adapter and had a manual transmission but the one's I've seen (ICE) have a crappy auto tranny. I saw an 05' conversion on www.evalbum.com but looks like he spent considerable time and money on it (like my conversion $25K). I'm looking at a iMiEV 2014 5K miles for $9K ... Still hard to sell my conversion - since it'll probably be the last car I'll convert, doesn't make sense to convert anymore though. Mark ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- Hi folks (original message) I was wondering if it makes sense to convert a Smart Car and does anyone know of a good conversion kit? The problem with the Smart ED as I was looking at a used 2014 is they want a $80 monthly battery rental fee for ten years or $9600 on top of the car price. Also there is *no* service manual available from Mercedes. I called several Smart dealers and they said their service department can't even get a service manual. Also I can't find any way to monitor the individual cells like my Leaf or iMiev And If you buy the battery for an additional $5k the warranty is only 4 years and 50k miles. Battery replacement cost is $29k verified at several dealers. The Leaf and iMiev are 100k 8 year warranty and the Leaf is $5.5k to replace and the iMiev is about $12k a dealer said. I'm thinking of selling my Ghia www.evalbum.com/4346 and buying a used iMiev or Smart ED. I already have a Leaf that my son drives mostly and both EVs are charged from the sun. Have a renewable energy day Mark Sent from my iPhone ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2016 14:08:47 -0700 From: Cor van de Water via EV <[email protected]> To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [EVDL] Smart Car Conversion Kits? Message-ID: <a73bc4b8b3218642a56a2c9eb01b44e002aed...@exchange.corp.proxim.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Everything screams to me that the Smart is a nice car for Leasing but stay away if you want to buy! Every car is going to be an orphan as soon as you buy it and it has very limited space so unless you are lucky with the car and the battery and nothing breaks - it appears that you are on your own or have to fork over whatever ransom Mercedes asks to work on the car for you. For proof, look at the unrealistic battery price, it is several times more than the cost of the battery, so why bother if there are so many better alternatives? I love my Leaf so much, I now have two. Since I need space to work on my electric truck, I am going to sell one. It has some damage but hardly noticeable and does not affect the operation at all. Good battery, still has 12 bars though I suspect will lose bar 12 soon. Car is a 2011 Leaf SV, battery has lived in Washington until 3 months ago when it moved to California, that is why it still has good capacity. Send me an email if you are interested. Cor van de Water Chief Scientist Proxim Wireless office +1 408 383 7626 Skype: cor_van_de_water XoIP +31 87 784 1130 private: cvandewater.info Have a renewable energy day, Mark Mark E. Hanson 184 Vista Lane Fincastle, VA 24090 540-473-1248 phone & FAX, 540-816-0812 cell REEVA: community service RE & EV project club Website: www.REEVAdiy.org (See Project Gallery) UL Certified PV Installer My RE&EV Circuits: www.EVDL.org/lib/mh -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20161025/a1c5539b/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
