... will actually be the Smart scooter! Looks like Vectrix is going mainstream. Naturally this scooter will be just a moped equivalent and so probably not of much interest to us here, but I think it is both significant and welcome that smart (= Mercedes) is getting in on both scooters and specifically leccy scooters.

http://www.automania.be/en/cars/smart/s ... th-vectrix



Published: 03.12.2012
smart’s electric portfolio is continuing to grow. In addition to the smart electric drive and the smart ebike, in 2014 the smart scooter will be launched on the market. With the introduction of a zero-local emission scooter smart as a provider of innovative mobility solutions for the city is offering a complete portfolio of electrically driven vehicles for short, medium and long distances of up to 140 kilometres.

smart is developing and producing the electric scooter in close cooperation with its partner Vectrix, an innovative and worldwide leading brand in the electric two-wheeler industry. The company that was founded in 1996 in Rhode Island, USA, has been building electric scooters in series for years and has great expertise in this field.

“smart and Vectrix are both pioneers of electric mobility for the city”, says Dr Annette Winkler, Head of smart. “The smart scooter will be a true smart and we want to make it an icon of urban mobility – just like the smart fortwo.

”The appearance of the smart scooter prototype that was presented at the Paris Motor Show in 2010 will be further developed by smart. The new electric smart scooter will offer unique features seen for the first time in this vehicle category.

It all comes down to two things, range and speed.
If it will go far and fast enough then it looks to be a cracking little machine.
If I lived in a city I would definitely consider one.

Looks like an interesting change of direction since Gold Peak (GP Batteries) bought Vectrix

Just a thought. When the smart was first shown in 2010 almost simultaneously Mini had a concept e-scooter shown as well. I wonder if we're going to see that soon, too? With Mercedes entering the market I reckon the chances should be high that BMW (=Mini) won't be far behind. Or perhaps the "Mini scooter" comes out badged as a BMW?

Latest Twist & go mag featured a BMW electric scooter.. looked quite good.

Yuk.

gn2 wrote:It all comes down to two things, range and speed.
If it will go far and fast enough then it looks to be a cracking little machine.
If I lived in a city I would definitely consider one.

I think a third thing is nearly as important, namely refuel time. Electric vehicles will never be mainstream until they can compete on all those three things.

And as far as scooters go, there's not much point if the luggage space is all taken by the batteries.

Very true about charging opportunity and time, but by "far enough" I meant as far as you need it to go in the course of a day.
Vespas have feck all storage either, doesn't stop people buying them.

GN2 makes a good point with that

If you are using it for a regular commute or even irregular trips to the shops etc you don't even think about the charge time. You start to think in terms of a daily mileage budget instead.
I plug it in when I get home and unplug it when I want to ride it.

Obviously it is no good for higher mileages yet, but that should change when something like the graphine supercapicitors become affordable ( higher charge, fast recharge, light weight)

Indeed. The new Tesla S has a range of 300 miles and can be charged in about an hour using a solar system Tesla are working on. Oh, and it seats 5 and does 0-60 in 4 seconds!

It's a good point about recharge times and its something that's been my biggest concern when I've looked at electric cars. Reviews tend to concentrate on the range, recharge time is not given prominent attention. But it is as important as range in my view, perhaps more so.

None on the market at present are remotely near the brief time it takes to refuel with liquid fuel and this for me renders them pretty useless. People say you can charge them overnight or at work etc. but that is generally not convenient at all. I want the vehicle to be available when I want it, not be dictated by some agonisingly slow recharge time of several hours. So until battery technology improves to the point where recharges take only a similar time to liquid fuel, I'm not interested. Unless I'm forced to because liquid fuels disappear or become prohibitively expensive which may happen.

There are several other problems with electrics too. They cost silly money at present and never have anywhere near the range the makers claim. And if the battery life isn't under guarantee, they are enormously expensive to replace and, as with range, I very much doubt that their useful life will be anywhere near what the makers claim.

I think the best answer at present is the Vauxhall Ampera which is unlike other hybrids such as the Prius in that it is electrically driven but uses a petrol powered generator to charge the batteries automatically when it detects their remaining power is below a certain point. Thus it is as quick to refuel as any petrol engine, can't run out of electric power as long as you have petrol in it, and it can also be plugged in to recharge like other purely electric cars which takes the usual long time. But it is dear, £30,000+.