Just to add my own view here. I have had a smartED 2013 for three years and it’s been a great car. I drive it pretty much daily and it’s been a dream to drive, fast and agile, tons of space to carry stuff. Basically perfectly suited to city driving. As for service my local MB dealer has been good and the basic service costs are very much on par with anything I have ever owned (mainly Nissan’s) except they are overall cheaper than my gas cars without all the parts that need to be replaced and oil changes etc. I too would like to own the service manuals but in reality I won’t ever be digging that deeply into self service. I gave that up many years back when the cars became mostly electronically controlled. The mechanics I can get serviced anywhere as the base car is the same as the gas and diesel versions. After three years my battery seems to holding up just fine, my range is the same or even slightly more than when I bought it - might be just the estimator learning my driving style.
That said, if I had kids I would have probably bought a leaf at the time and today I would consider the iMev or the KEA Soul EV which looks really nice if I need a bigger car any time soon. For now I am waiting for the 400+ km car with fast charger for my next one. As for conversions I did look into this some years back when I had my diesel smart but for many reasons including cost and performance it just didn’t seem like a good option. I think with all the good EV’s on the market today the only vehicle worth converting would be a truck as there is nothing yet in that category though I expect that too will change fairly soon. Lawrence > On Oct 25, 2016, at 18:24, Mark Hanson via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > > 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 <ev@lists.evdl.org> > > To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List" <ev@lists.evdl.org> > > 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) > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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